Silence
by Roza1724
Summary: Rose set up a deal with her father that prevented her from being married off to a man she didn't love. But is the deal keeping her from true love. And is the man who is vying for her attentions who he seems to be? Set in the 1800's, but I'll probably make a lot of mistakes with things of the time, and probably more modern dialogue and such. Rated M for eventual sex scenes.
1. Prologue

Prologue

My father hated my voice. He said it reminded him of my mother who passed away a couple of years ago. We made a deal when I was fifteen that I would stop talking. His end of the bargain was that he wouldn't marry me off to some guy in an arranged marriage. The deal was actually a joke to him; he didn't think that I would be able to do it. He thought that I would talk and he would be able to marry me off and get rid of me. But I haven't talked. I really don't want to get married. I haven't heard my voice in two years. It was really hard in the beginning, not to speak. But my will is strong. I knew that I would be more miserable if I was married off to some guy I didn't know. It's easier now, it's almost like I don't even have the ability to talk. And it's not like I've been completely alone in this. I had a friend who stuck with me in all of this, Lissa. I didn't tell her about the deal but I think she guessed. She's ok with the marriage stuff because she's been betrothed for two years to a guy who's perfect in her eyes. He said he'd wait on marrying her until she was eighteen and settle on courting her. I didn't have such luck, or a father that loved me. He wanted me gone, but he would have to settle for my silence.

My silence ruins one other thing for me. I'm a part of this women's right group, which was inspired by the Seneca Falls Convention, but I can't ever voice my ideas. We've met a few times, the first meeting only a few months ago. Lissa doesn't go because she's too afraid of getting in trouble, or offending Christian. And I don't blame her. If she was caught there it could ruin her life. It could ruin all of our lives, but we're willing to risk it. There needs to be a change, women need their own rights. We need equality.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Dimitri P.O.V

I walked into the room and heard all the gasps and exclamations. The room was full of girls and young woman who were sick of being mistreated by men. And I was here to help. But all they knew was that I was a man, and I could ruin all of them by telling people about what they were doing here. "I'm not here to harm you or ruin you in anyway. Believe or not I want to help you in your cause." Where I come from, women are nearly equal to the men. They are definitely treated a lot better where I live. "I figured that if you have support or ideas from a man, it might help you in your cause." There were about fifteen females here, and _here _was a barn. There was hay all over the floor and chairs set up in three rows. There was a large, flat box where the speaker would stand. Currently there was a young woman, maybe in her early twenties. Everyone was staring at me in silence, but then a woman stood up.

"Anyone fighting for our cause is welcome here, of course." I smiled. "Please take a seat anywhere." There were a few open seats but then I noticed a girl. And my heart froze. She was the reason that I left the island that I live on. Not her specifically, but my mate. My soul has instantly recognized her as mine. She was beautiful; she had gorgeous, long brown hair, big chocolate–brown eyes, and full lips. She was perfect. I realized that I'd been standing here, staring at her for a few moments, and I snapped out of it. I walked over to the seat beside her and sat gingerly. I was aware of her every movement but I wasn't staring at her. I needed her to fall for me not be creeped out. But I didn't want to let her out of my sight. I knew that I had to get to know her.

I couldn't really concentrate on the meeting, but I got the gist of it. It was more of a support group, than an activist group. They weren't really trying to plan anything to fight against the way things were. They were telling each other their experiences and how to fight and get through them. Which is fine and all, but all their doing is talking, no action. And the weirdest thing was that my girl didn't go up. Well, maybe she went up before I came.

The meeting is over now and everyone was getting up and moving the chairs into the back of the barn. I grabbed mine and my girl's before she could get ahold of it. "I'll get it." She nodded thanks. I walked them to the back of the barn, when I turned around she was just leaving through the door with a girl with short brown hair. I jogged after them to catch up. "Mind if I walk with you, I think we're heading in the same direction," I lied when I was walking side by side with my girl. They both nodded. "My name's Dimitri."

"I'm Mia and this is Rose," the skinny girl answered. Rose, what a beautiful name, it was perfect. "We live right next to each other, so that's why we walk together. I just moved there a couple of months ago, and my family and I have had dinner with her and her father a few times. I heard about this meeting and was _super_ surprised to see Rose here," what she said next was in a quieter voice, as if Rose wasn't standing right there, "What with her condition and all."

"You have a condition?" I asked Rose directly, hoping the skinny girl wouldn't answer, she probably go another rant. This was probably way out of line to ask, but I ignored that. I wanted to know everything about her.

"Yes, she does. Well, I'm not sure if it's exactly a condition, so much as a … disability. She can't talk, apparently hasn't said a word in two years. And no one knows why, well maybe except her friend, Lissa, but she's never said anything. No matter how many times I've asked." She whitened. "I mean no matter how many times others have asked." Rose had been staring intently at the ground, but now she shook her head in disdain.

"Well, I'm sure that she has her reasons. And they're probably good reasons."

"Don't you just wish that you knew those reasons, though?" She asked.

"Why don't we stop talking about Rose as if she wasn't standing right between us," this Mia-girl was really starting to piss me off. She was rude and inconsiderate.

"Why? It's not like she can get mad and yell at us for doing it."

"She can get mad, and she won't be able to yell at you. Which is worse in my opinion, because then it bottles up inside of her. The anger will grow and grow with each new thing that you do and one day she'll snap. And because you don't know her, you don't know what her _snap_ entails. Whether she'll play a harmless prank on you, or stab you with a kitchen knife. The quiet ones are always the most dangerous." That shut her up, thank God. And it made Rose smirk, which is always a plus.

A few moments later we reached their houses. Mia's was first in line. "Here's my stop. I guess I'll see you … later." She left.

I continued to walk Rose the last few steps to her house, glad that Mia was finally gone. We stopped in front of her little walkway before the door. "God, she's annoying," I complained loudly, which made her smile and that, of course, sent my heart fluttering, like a butterflies wings. I took a breath. "It's been great meeting you. Well, not _really _meeting you. But I'd like to get to know you. I don't care if you can't talk. Would you like to, maybe, go for a walk through the park on Wednesday?" She wouldn't meet my gaze; she quickly shook her head no, and jogged inside. "I'm not going to stop trying to get to know you?" I called out before she went inside.

I turned around and started walking the way we came. Tonight was more than I could've asked for. Tonight was everything. I had finally found my girl, my mate, my love. She was the whole reason I left home. I had been so lonely, and my sister suggested that I just go. Abandon my duties of leader and take a chance. I had been so doubtful at first, but she forced me to leave and now I am so grateful that she did. All I had to do was to make Rose fall in love with me, and that she should abandon everything she knows and believes in to come and live with me on an island that nobodies heard of. Piece of cake, I think not.

"Dimitri?" a voice snapped me out of my thoughts. My eyes shot to the figure standing a few yards away.

"Christian? Is that really you? Everyone thought you were dead." It couldn't be… but it is! I strode through the space separating us and embraced him. "It's been two years."

"I know I said I'd only be gone for one, but, I found my mate!" He exclaimed.

"I think we need to sit down and talk." I gestured to the park bench only a few feet away. "Tell me all about her." I demanded.

"She is like a beautiful angel. All pale features and a laugh … oh, I can't even describe her laugh or smile; you'll just have to see it for yourself. She is magnificent. Her name is  
Vasilisa, but she goes by Lissa."

"Lissa… that's Rose's friend, isn't it?" I asked, remembering her name being mentioned before.

"Yes, they're best friends. Lissa's even stuck with her through the deal….Oops, that's supposed to be a secret. Forget I said anything."

"Christian, tell me everything that you know. I found out tonight that Rose is my mate, and I need to know everything I can about her."

He sighed. "She is? Well, ok, but Lissa wasn't supposed to tell me this. No one is supposed to know, technically not even Lissa. So I'll tell you but you can't say anything to anyone about it, ok?" I nodded. "Rose made a deal with her father, two years ago. Rose's father hates her, because she reminds him of his wife, her mother, who passed away. Abe wanted to get rid of Rose by marrying her off to someone, anyone who would bite. But Rose hated that idea, so she came up with a deal. She knew that her father hated the sound of her voice. So the deal was: Rose wouldn't speak again, and as long as she didn't speak her father wouldn't marry her off. He took it as a joke; he apparently didn't think she would be able to do it. But she did and she's been silent ever since."

"Well, this is going to be harder than I thought."

"How do you think I feel? I've been here for nearly two years. I said I'd wait for her to be eighteen before we got married to make her more comfortable, but this really sucks. I hate being here, hiding who I am, especially from her."

"I hope I don't have to be here for two years. I mean, I will gladly do it to be with her but still, the island is where I need to be."

"By the way, where are you staying?" He asked as an after-thought.

"I don't know. I was just going to pass through, but then I heard of the meeting. I just got here this morning."

"You can stay with me. I've got this small little place a couple streets away." He stood up and I copied.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to find something to eat."

"No problem, that's where I was coming from," He gave me his address and we parted ways. It's been a couple days since I last ate and immediately went in search for a meal. I didn't stop thinking about Rose, until I went to sleep. And even then, I dreamt of her.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Rose P.O.V

"Well, don't you think he's cute?" Lissa asked. We were in her room and she's harping on me about Dimitri. We had been trying to pick an outfit out for her supervised date with Christian for the past hour. We had finally decided on a light green dress that would make her blue eyes pop.

I shrugged in answer. "Well, he obviously likes you, despite your silence…. Or maybe that's why he likes you." She laughed and I smirked. It was times like these that I wished I could laugh. But Lissa didn't mind.

It's been a week since Dimitri came into the meeting. He hangs around Christian a lot and whenever I see him in town, when I'm walking with Lissa, he always makes a point to say hello to me. It's sweet but what's the point. It's not like he can get to know me, with the deal and everything.

"Rose, not that I don't love having you here, you should probably get going. It's getting dark." I also had another meeting tonight. We meet every week, Saturdays, really late. I nodded and stood. I gave her a hug and made for the door. Her parents weren't home, something to do with a party at a governor's party, or something.

My house was only the next street over, only takes five minutes to walk to. I was about halfway there when the hair on the back of my throat stood up. I looked around just as three men came out of an alleyway, laughing. They stopped when they saw me. I quickly turned around and sped up. They started cat-calling. I turned down an alleyway; it was a shortcut to my house, opened up right on my street. I was halfway through when they caught up to me. One of them grabbed me and slammed me into the wall, positioning himself in front of me. My heart was in my throat and I tried to scream but the man clapped one meaty hand over my mouth. It was then that I recognized him. He was the town's butcher and the two men that were with him were his sons. He reeked of blood, the smell clogging my nose, making me want to gag.

"Well, well, well, boys, look what I found. It's the silent bitch who thinks she's too good to speak to common folk." He slapped me across the face. It instantly brought tears to my eyes, but I didn't make a sound, which seemed to piss him of even more. "Well, I'll be making you squeal tonight." His sons chortled. I whimpered unable to keep the noise in. "Look, she's startin' already. I must be good." He bellowed with laughter. My stomach was full of butterflies; actually it's more like angry wasps. I wanted to throw up. The butcher pushed his body flush with mine, the smell of _him_ getting more intense. I couldn't move and even if I could fight back I wouldn't get far. Even the slowest of the three could probably still catch me. And that definitely wouldn't work in my favor. I couldn't think of a single way out of this. I couldn't call for help or fight back. The only thing that would help is if someone were to come. The butcher slid his free hand down my side and grasped my bum. I whimpered again, more tears leaking out of the corners of my eyes. The sons were just watching, nope, scratch that, the older one was fondling himself through his trousers. Now I really felt like throwing up, and if the butcher didn't move his hand I would end up choking on it. It was getting harder to breath, I squeezed my eyes shut.

But then the weight was gone.

My eyes shot open to see a man pulling the butcher off and punching him in the face once, twice, three times, before shoving him away. The sons jumped forward but then I stopped watching. I slid down the wall and sat of the ground. I still could barely breathe. I put my head down and closed my eyes to try to get control over myself. I heard a few thuds, grunts and groans, a moment of silence and then a palm gently caressing my cheek. My eyes shot open and I jerked my head back, accidently hitting my head on the brick's behind me. I moaned and closed my eyes again. But not before seeing who was in front of me: it was Dimitri! Thank God.

I was still gasping for air but unable to get enough. "Rose, you need to calm down! You're having a panic attack. If you don't stop you'll pass out." I opened my eyes; they surely must have looked wild to him, like a panicked horse. He sat down. "Pull your knees up to your chest and put your head down between them, try to slow your breathing." I did as I was told. "Big, deep breathes, Rose." Eventually, I calmed down enough and was able to breathe again. I pulled my head up and looked at him. "Are you ok?" I nodded. He stood and offered a hand to me; I slowly put mine in his. He helped me up, but didn't let go of my hand. "Let me walk you home." I wasn't going to protest to that.

He kept ahold of my hand and walked us out of the alleyway. I could barely walk I was shaking so much. Tears were still in the corners of my eyes. Dimitri walked slowly so not to rush me. I don't think I would be able to walk faster the pace we were at. We walked until I stopped us in front of my house. "Are you still going to go to the meeting tonight?" He asked, eyes on mine, concern showing through. I shook my head, I just wanted to sleep. All the energy from my body was just sapped away. "You don't have to listen to me, but I think you should. That way we could tell the group your story." I thought about it for a moment, looking away from him. I nodded, he could probably tell them himself, but I suppose I could go. "Do you want me to wait here for you? We can walk to group together?" I nodded fervently. "Ok, I'll see you in a little bit." I turned and walked down the stone pathway to my doorway, but not after giving him a look that hopefully conveyed how grateful I was to him.

I closed the door behind me and leaned against it, taking a deep breath to steady myself. I walked down the hallway to my father's study. I knocked twice before walking in. He was reading some papers but looked up. When he saw me his face fell. "What do you want?" I motioned with my hands that I was going to bed. "It's a little early for bed, isn't it? Well, you do look a little pale, maybe you're coming down with something. Best that you get your sleep." My father always tried to hide the fact that he hated me. Even though he knew that I knew. I turned around and tromped up the stairs and into my bedroom at the end of the hall. One of the maids had followed me up the stairs; she was supposed to help me ready for bed. But I waved her off. I turned off the lamp in my room after a moment and kept quiet for ten minutes before throwing a coil of rope out of the window. Getting down the window was always easier than getting back in. The first couple of meetings were absolutely terrifying because I nearly wasn't able to pull myself through. I was afraid that I would be stuck outside and caught, but after a few times I figured out the best method of getting back up, and the muscles in my arms strengthened.

Once I was on the ground, I walked towards the front yard to find Dimitri. He wasn't there. I looked down the street but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. I felt a hand at my elbow. I whipped around with a yelp, adrenaline immediately shooting through my body. But it was only Dimitri. "I'm sorry; I thought you'd be in the backyard, so I went back there." But I was in the backyard, wouldn't he have seen me? If I could speak I would've spoken this. But instead I just turned so we could start walking to the meeting. It only took a few minutes and we walked in silence something I was quite used to. There were only a couple of other girls here, and they had set up all of the chairs already. It would take a good ten to twenty minutes before the majority of girls were to show up. I sat in a chair second row back, Dimitri sat beside me. He still didn't try to talk to me, which was surprising, considering he's been trying to talk to me all week. I almost wanted him to talk to me now; anything that would keep me from thinking of what happened tonight, of what could have happened if Dimitri hadn't shown up.

"Rose?" My head jerked up at the sound of my voice. "I was wondering if you could do me a favor, for helping you?" I nodded warily, hoping it was something I didn't have to say no to. I owed this man, but I would still keep my morals. "Would you go on a picnic with me tomorrow? I've been trying all week, and I was hoping that maybe now I had some leverage now. But, of course, you can still say no. I will hold no grudge, or be mad, or anything. This is totally up to you." He watched me, waiting for my response. I nodded slightly. I didn't see how this could be in anyway good for him. He'd be doing all the talking. I can't see how that would be fun. And why is he so adamant to get to know me and spend time with me? I really don't understand this man. Hopefully, he'll tell me his motives. "Great," a smile lit up on his face. "I'll plan and make everything. Do you want to meet at the park around twelve –thirty?" I nodded again. "I can't wait." By now about half of the girls and women were here. We would be starting soon.

Dimitri sat beside me silently for the rest of the time. I wish I could tell him to talk to me. I forced myself to think about other things, like the picnic and Lissa. Within ten minutes most of the rest of the women had arrived and the meeting started. Helen, the oldest women here, in her mid – thirties, went up to the small stand. She always started the meetings, saying why we're here and who would like to go first. Dimitri raised his hand when she asked that. There were a few whispers around the room as he stood and stepped onto the stand. He began recounting what he saw and what he could imply. The women around the room were completely silent. They were used to hearing stories of abuse from husbands and fathers, about being ignored, things like that. We'd never had a story of rape before, or almost rape in my case. Everyone's eyes were on him, except for me. I'd quite literally just lived this, minutes ago, coming here probably wasn't the best idea.

After a few more minutes Dimitri came back to sit next to me. He patted my knee reassuringly. It was a small gesture and it shouldn't have meant much, but it did send butterflies in my stomach at the small touch. No one went up to the stand for a few moments, everyone taking what Dimitri said in. But after that time was over the meeting continued on as normal. Everyone telling everyone else what sucks in their life. I first joined these meetings because I thought that we would be taking action to fight for our rights. Like the Seneca Falls Convention who wrote the Declaration of Sentiments. I wanted to actually do something, not sit around and talk about our feelings. Which, was technically, not even something I could really do.

When the meeting was over, nearly everyone came up to me to give their condolences, and to ask if I was ok. Dimitri didn't leave my side, for which I was grateful. We put away chairs and started to head out. Mia came jogging after us, calling out to get us to wait. She attached herself to Dimitri's side, her arm in his. "After hearing what happened to Rose, I don't want to walk alone." She said in her high pitched voice. She, again, was ignoring me. God, I really wish that I could just tell her to shut up. "It really makes you think that it could happen to you, you know?" I sighed. Luckily, it only took a few minutes before we would get home.

"Mia, I'm sure you're a really nice person, but I don't like how you treat Rose. You act like your better than her. And I don't mind walking you home, but please get off of me." She scoffed; shocked that someone would talk down to her highness. We walked the rest of the way home in silence. I kept my head down, because I couldn't stop smiling. Mia walked into her house without so much as a good-bye, or a hope you're ok. Not that I cared.

Dimitri walked me to my backyard. "I'll see you tomorrow." I nodded, not much else I could do. I waited until he was gone before climbing the window. I could do it, but it wasn't graceful looking. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit my pillow.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Rose P.O.V

I slept in very late. I couldn't remember the last time I slept in this late, but it felt good. I felt rejuvenated, fresh. I didn't forget about what happened yesterday night, but it was farther back in my mind. I wasn't so upset by it now. I was safe. The only thing still upsetting about it was that the men in the alley were probably going to get away with it. And that means that they'd probably try it again with another girl. But I was in a good mood and would worry about that tomorrow.

When I finally got out of bed, instead of just lying in the bright sunlight, I asked one of the servants what time it was (using hand motions). It was eleven o'clock! I only had an hour to get ready. I know he said to meet at twelve thirty but I planned on getting there early to read. I skipped out on breakfast, and enlisted Jill to help me get ready. She was young, and pretty, but she was an orphan. She worked at my house to provide for her the best she could. I liked her best, she always told the truth, whether it was hurtful or not. She helped me get dressed in a light blue dress, with mid-sleeves and a modest cut. She carefully put my hair up in a delicate bun.

Since I was a single woman and Dimitri a single man, we would need a chauffeur for our 'date'. It's not like anything could _happen_, but people would start rumors if we didn't have someone with us. I asked Jill to come with us (again with motions). Besides Lissa, she was the closest I had to a friend and she wouldn't be nosy or over-bearing. We set off for the park only a couple of minutes before twelve, a book in my hand. It is looked down upon for women to read, something about filling our head with nonsense, but I loved it too much to care. The adventures that books take you on are more thrilling than anything I could do in this town.

We sat in the sun, right in the middle of the park. We read together, sitting side by side, from the beginning even though I was in the middle. She giggled quietly at the funny moments and was silent in the serious ones; we were in quite an intense and riveting part when a shadow blocked our sun. I looked up to see Dimitri, holding a woven basket. Jill quickly excused herself to sit farther away: close enough for people to see her with us, but far enough away to give us a sense of privacy. "Hello, Rose," Dimitri said while sitting beside. I nodded my hello. "I hope you don't mind, but I brought something for us to … better communicate." He pulled out a pad of paper and pen. "I was hoping you could write what you would say." He looked hopefully. "This way we could get to know each other better." I smiled and nodded. This was a great idea. I've thought about using this method, and did for a little while with Lissa, but I always forget the paper or pen or lost them. But there was nothing wrong with doing it for an afternoon. "I also made some sweets. Chopped fruits, powered covered chocolate, cheese and crackers, I hope that you like stuff like that."

I put the pen to the paper and wrote _'Yes, I do, especially the chocolate.'_

"Great." He pulled bowls out of the basket, containing exactly what he said they would. He also pulled out a container of water. "I would've brought something more romantic, like champagne or wine, but we're in public and people would probably look down upon me getting you drunk."

_'Most likely,'_ I reached for a piece of the chocolate. It was so smooth and silky in my mouth, delicious. Dimitri chuckled.

"I see you like the chocolate. I'll have to remember that for the future."

_'Good, because you could win any girl over with this; I think it's the best chocolate I've ever tasted.' _And it was true; it was super creamy and sweet.

"The only girl I plan on winning over is you." My eyes dart up to his in surprise. It was then that his beauty really hit me. His dark, chocolate-brown eyes seemed to look into me, not through me. He was seeing me, not just some foolish girl who couldn't talk. His curved mouth slightly curled on the sides, his amusement showing through. Butterflies began to flutter around in my stomach. He cleared his throat at the silence, which made me realize that I had been staring. I pulled my gaze from his face and looked down. "So, how are you feeling today, with everything that happened yesterday?"

_'Surprisingly ok, I am in a really good mood. And I wouldn't be if you hadn't saved me, so thank you. But I am worried about what they could do. They might try to come after me again, or some other girl.'_

"You didn't hear," he started after swallowing a grape, "After they ran off last night, after I beat them, they were killed."

I gasped, _'All three, and how?!'_

"Yes, all three. It was an animal attack. Their throats had been ripped out. They were found early this morning."

_'Do they know what kind of animal?_' This was kind of a blessing in disguise. On one hand, three horrible people were gone; on the other hand, there was a murderous animal on the loose. _'Should we be worried?'_

"They think it was a wolf, and no, I don't think we should be worried. But let's move off of this topic, it's so depressing." He was right; this is hardly the topic someone should be having on a date. He picked up another piece of fruit and popped it into his mouth. He groaned softly. "You should really try the strawberries, they're very juicy." So I did, and found out just how juicy, when some of that said juice started to slide down my chin. I went to grab for a napkin, a blush making its way onto my cheeks. Before I dab the juice off, Dimitri's thumb slowly wiped it off, the juice now collected on his finger. He stared at his thumb for a second before bringing it to his lips and licking the liquid off. It was tantalizing to watch; his velvety-looking tongue dabbing of the liquid and his eyes trained on that one spot. It sent tingles from my chest all the way down to an area not mentioned in public. He snapped back to himself and realized what he had done. "I, uh, kind of lost myself there for a moment, please forgive me."

_'It's quite alright,'_ and it was. It kind of made me think of him in a new way, and I couldn't tell if that was good or bad.

And so our date went on, him talking while I wrote and both of us eating. He asked about the book I had been reading and I wrote nearly a full page going on and on to describe it. It was about a little girl who lived slightly out of town. One day when she was bored she wandered into the woods and was approached by what appeared to her to be a very, very large dog. She was scared at first but came to find the 'dog' as friendly. She befriended the beast and went out to see it every day, despite being forbidden to by her parents. When she got a little older she learned that it was a wolf, not a dog. But stranger still was that he was four times as big as the wolves in the pictures she saw. She kept him a secret; she didn't want him to be found out, lest someone think he's a danger and kill him. I had just gotten to the point where her parents had found out about her little 'friend'.

We also talked about our lives a little. I asked him why he had come out here and he said that he left home to find his wife. Which I thought was a little strange, but brave. He said that he had a sister and I told him a little about Lissa.

"So, to find out little trivial things about each other, how about we just go back and forth with random questions?" He asked, leaning back with his arms holding him up. I nodded. "Ok, I'll go first. What's your favorite color? Mine's green."

I wrote, _'Blue, what's your favorite fruit? Mine are bananas.'_

"Currently, I'd have to say strawberries…. What's your favorite animal? I think mine are dogs and wolves, they are very loyal."

_'I like birds.'_

"Why's that?"

_'They're so free; they have nothing holding them back. It must be a great feeling.'_

There was a pause and then, "Rose, why don't you talk? Is it because you can't or because you won't?"

I sat there with the pen in hand, hovering over the page. I wanted to tell him, he was so kind and understanding. But I couldn't. Not yet, at least. I shook my head, frustrated with myself. "It's ok, Rose, you don't have to tell me. Let's just continue our game." And that's exactly what we did… for hours. We'd been on the date for four hours before I had to end it. I really had to get home; I hadn't expected this to last so long. Not that I was complaining. I hadn't had this much fun in a long time. We packed up the basket together and Dimitri walked me and Jill back to the house. Jill quickly scurried inside. We stood in front of my door, neither wanting to be the first to say goodbye. But we had to. I started to hand the notebook over but he refused it.

I lifted it and wrote, _'I always lose them. You keep it, until next time.'_

He smirked. "I finally got you to admit that there would be a next time." He took the notebook. "I had an amazing time Rose. I can't wait to see you again." He bent and kissed the back of my hand, his lips lingering longer than necessary. This wasn't something men still did today, but I was definitely ok with it. It reminded me of all the princes I've read about in books. When he stood straight I turned to open the door and he turned to leave. I walked into the house with a smile on my face that lasted only a few seconds.

My father flew out of his study and bounded down the hallway, "Where have you been?!" He screamed. "I was ready to call the police!" I highly doubt that. "You didn't tell me where you were going!" He swayed on his feet, the smell of alcohol wafting off of him. He got this way more often than one should. "You were out with boys, weren't you?" There was a moment of silence as if he was waiting for a response, but he would be waiting a long time. "You're a slut! Just like that little friend of yours," another moment of silence. "Answer me! God damn it, answer me, so I can get rid of you!" I kept calm, waiting for the outburst to fade away. I was used to this; it was usually a weekly occurrence. What wasn't a weekly occurrence was what he did next. The skin of his palm connected with my cheek, sending me sprawling across the floor. The pain didn't register yet, but I knew it would eventually. "Your mother would hate you!" He screamed one last time and disappeared back down the hallway. I stayed in my spot on the ground for a few minutes, trying to get the knowledge of what just happened to sink in. The knowledge sunk in the same time as the pain. I quickly got up and jogged up the stairs and into my bedroom. Almost mechanically I got undressed and into a night gown. I wouldn't be leaving this room again tonight, not with my father downstairs. I lay down onto the bed and waiting for the tears to come. And they did, eventually. I cried silently, just like everything else I did. Jill brought up a sandwich she quickly threw together for me about an hour later, but other than that I got no disturbances. I ate quickly and then just went back to lying on my bed. I don't know when I fell asleep, but I must've. I woke up the next morning, without a single memory of a dream from the night.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Dimitri P.O.V

I woke up with a smile on my face. The date yesterday went better than planned. I had loved listen to her heart beat, especially when I made it beat faster. When I got home, Christian hadn't been, so I tried to entertain myself. But I was too hyped up from the date to really sit still. I went out for a run through the woods, just letting lose. When I finally made it home, tired, Christian was already in bed.

I rolled out of bed and into the living room; Christian was sitting with his feet up on the coffee table, reading the newspaper. "How did it go yesterday?"

"Amazing, she wrote on the paper, and I really got to know her better." I plopped down onto the couch.

"Well, I heard that she is going to walk around the flea market with Lissa, if it doesn't rain. You want to go?"

"Yes, of course." I darted back into my room to get changed. We left the house within minutes. The flea market was a fifteen minute walk from Christian's place. I told him every moment from the date. And then he told me about his first date with Lissa. They had walked through the same flea market we were about to. They had talked and he had bought her a bracelet, when she wasn't looking. He loved the look on her face when he presented it to her later.

At the flea market, Christian and I walked around for a half hour, no sight of Rose or Lissa. I was getting irritated; I wanted to see her so bad. It was nearly painful to not have her near me, to not know that she was one hundred ok and safe.

Finally I spotted them across the street. Without a word to Christian I darted across the road. "Rose!" I called out to stop them, huge smile on my face, which dropped as soon as I saw hers. There was a bruise across half her face. "Are you okay?" I stood in front of her and gently caressed her face. She nodded keeping her eyes on mine. "What happened?"

"She said that she walked into a wall." Lissa answered.

"Is that true?" I asked her. This bruise seemed a little extreme for walking into a wall. She hesitated but nodded. I didn't believe her, something was off about this. She was hiding something. But there really wasn't anything I could do about it. We walked around for a couple of hours or so, just browsing the items on the booths. I wanted to buy her something and surprise her with it, and I saw plenty of things that would bring a smile to her face. But I didn't want to copy exactly what Christian did. So, I would buy her something and give it to her later. I wanted it to be good, though. I saw a couple of different pieces of jewelry that had roses, but I figured that that was too cliché. I bet too many people had given her rose themed things. She probably hated it.

When it was finally time for us to separate for them to head home, I quickly went back to one of the booths. I had seen the perfect thing to get for her. I quickly paid for it and ran to her house, getting there way before she would I placed the gift and a small letter explaining it on her desk, and left. I needed to see her reaction when she got the present, so I went to a tree a little ways away and climbed it until I could see through her window. She got home in another twenty minutes. I heard her walking up the stairs and heard the door creak open. It took her a little while before she noticed it. She looked confused when she picked up the small dagger and sheath. But when she read the note her face lit up. Her smile is so addicting! I bought her something that would be useful and meaningful. Now, she has a way to defend herself when I'm not there. She put the dagger back onto the desk, the smile still slightly there, and left the room. Time for me to go, I climbed back down the tree and left.

We didn't see each other the rest of the week. I wanted to see her, god did I want to see her, but she was didn't leave her house. She didn't make any more plans with Lissa in public, and she was always in her room. But today was Saturday and I would be able to see her during the meeting tonight. I had a plan to really get these meetings booming.

I left my house early and ran to her house. I didn't make myself known to her but I did follow her. I didn't want another disgusting man touching her, and this way I could be sure she would be safe. She walked into the barn and I waiting a few minutes before following her in. The chairs were already set and she sat in the second to last row. I sat beside her and handed her the notebook I had been holding.

"I haven't seen you all week."

She shook her head and wrote, _'I haven't really felt like going out much.'_

"Your bruise seems to be healing nicely," I said while turning her face to me with two fingers on her chin. "Did you lie about what happened because Lissa and Christian were there?"

_ 'I didn't lie!'_ she wrote ferociously.

"Rose, I've seen many bruises and unless the wall punched you, that bruise didn't come from an encounter with a wall." I wanted her to trust me enough to tell me these sorts of things. I wanted to be with her already. I knew that she was the one I was meant to be with, but she couldn't know that. I had to go the slow route and win her trust and I hated it. "Did someone hurt you, Rose? I can help, you know. As you've seen I'm pretty handy in a fight. Just tell me, you can always trust me."

She shook her head and wouldn't look at me_. 'I can't tell you. There's nothing you could do.'_ Yeah, there's nothing I can do because you won't tell me!

We were silent for a little while but then the meeting started. The woman went up and started the meeting. I sat and listened to girl's tell the others about their problems. I ended up zoning out, which usually happens when you're bored out of your mind. When everyone had gone, I stood. Here's the surprise.

I walked up to the podium. "How many came here with the intensions to just talk about your feelings? And I'm not talking about tonight, I'm talking about the very first time you came to one of these meetings." Only a few hands rose. "How many came because they thought this group would do something, take action against the inequalities?" Many more hands were held high in the air, including Rose's. Good, because I was only really doing this for her. "I'm not saying that talking it out isn't helpful. But don't you think taking action, actually doing something to fight for yourselves, would be a better way to spend your time?" There were mutters around the room, people glancing around to gouge other's reactions. But Rose's gaze was steady on me. "I propose that we spend our next meeting to do something, anything in defiance towards the men who are treating you like your nothing, like you don't matter. Well, you do matter and it's time the men see that."

"What would we even do?!" A high-pitched voice asked. I recognized it as Mia. She was one of the one's who raised her hand to the first question. Which didn't surprise me, she talks way too much.

"I think that we could spend the next meeting making fliers and posters saying woman should be treated equal and other things along that line, and then hang them up."

"Where would we hang them?" Another voice pitched in.

"Everywhere, it needs to be big, so that men might start taking you seriously. All if favor raises their hands," nearly every hand rose. "It's settled then, next meeting everyone bring as much paper and pencils and pens and anything you can think of. If everyone's working we should be able to make enough. We'll send out teams of small groups to hang as much as possible. This will have to be an all-night thing, so everyone get as much sleep the night before as possible." And with that, the meeting was over. I put chairs away with Rose and the girls and we left.

Without a word I followed Rose, walking her home. She paused when we were halfway there and put the pad of paper against the wall of a building. _'That was really amazing, what you did in there. I've wanted to say something along those lines for a while now.'_

"I figured because you always seemed so bored at these meetings." We continued to walk. "I noticed that you were wearing the gift I gave you." A blush broke out upon her cheeks. The dagger was hidden in her left boot; I had noticed it back at the barn. We stopped in front of her house. "Would you like to hang out with me sometime this week?"

She nodded, hair falling into her eyes. 'Meet me at the library on Wednesday.' She then handed back the notebook, and started to leave. I grabbed her arm and turned her back to me. I slid a hand up to her face, caressing on side. Without breaking our gaze I leant and brushed my lips across her cheek. Her heartbeat was thudding as fast as a hummingbird's wings. "Good night," I whispered and stepped back. We both turned and walked our separate ways at the same time. I couldn't wait till Wednesday.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Dimitri P.O.V

A/N: I don't remember the last time I updated but it's been a few days so I'm sorry. I had a huge school project and I had sprained my ankle extremely. Hope you like the new update, please review, everything helps.

It's finally Wednesday! Rose didn't explicitly say a time, so I got there nearly as soon as the doors were open. I walked around, browsing through the shelves of books. I didn't want to grab any books, lest I got into one and didn't want put it down. I didn't even go near the western books {A/N: Yes I know that there weren't western novels at this time.}

"Are you Dimitri Belikov?" I turned, and there was an old woman, very petit, about half my size.

"Yes, ma'am," I replied.

"A nice young lady, who strangely couldn't talk, wanted me to give this to you." She handed over a piece of paper. "Have a nice day!"

"You too," I brought the paper closer to my face, and a smile lifted my face. There were three things on the page, lists: _mystery, The Last One, 286._ A space: _fantasy, The Chosen One, 21. _Another space:_ science, The Only One, 112. _I went into the mystery section, not thinking that the first list could mean anything else. I searched through the books and found the one titled The Last One, and flipped to the aforementioned page number. I went to the other two sections and got the books. Certain words were circled. All the words together said: "Go to the back of newspaper section go behind the curtain follow the black." How much time did Rose on this? And I'm not sure that this really made sense, but what else could I do? I did as the message said and went to the curtain, but something wasn't right with it. It was ten o'clock in the morning, light should be shining through even in the darkest of curtains. I moved it slightly and peered behind it. There wasn't a window. There was a door. What the –

Behind the door was a hallway, but beyond that I couldn't tell. Everything was completely dark, hence the 'black' in the message. I stepped into the hallway and walked forward, completely blind, even with my enhanced eyesight. There was no light coming in anywhere. I took tentative steps forward. I heard a creak a couple of feet from where I was standing. Now it could have been from me, upsetting the old wood, or a person could have been shifted there weight. I forced myself not to acknowledge it in anyway. I knew that is was Rose, her scent drifted out of the darkness. I took another step and felt a soft hand grasp mine. I forced myself to flinch away. She giggled. She pulled me through the hallway and I heard a door creak and light fell out into the hallway. She pulled me into the lighted area. The light was coming from random lamps placed around the room. Well, if you could call it a room, it was very small; I couldn't even stand up fully. There was a blanket set in the middle of the floor, another couple stacked beside it, and a stack of books. It was surprisingly chilly here, so the blankets were a good idea. There was also a basket and pitcher of water.

She was wearing a light purple dress with lace around the chest, sleeves, and the bottom hem. She had a plain silver chain ornamenting her chest. The bruise on her face nearly completely healed. She sat in the middle of the blanket. I sat and pulled out the notepad from my satchel. She immediately started writing. I watched in silence. _'I told my father that I will be at Lissa's for the day.'_

"Why did you tell him that?"

'_Last time I got in trouble. I hadn't told him where I was going and it's not like I could tell him I was going on a date, or to the library.'_

Wait a minute! He got mad on day, the next she had a bruise. Put two and two together. "Did your father hit you?!" I caressed her cheek. She shrugged me off and looked away. That was all the answer I needed. I jumped up, not able to sit with the anger coursing through my body. "How could he?!" I started pacing, my head bent so not to hit the ceiling. "He's your father!?... Is that why you won't talk because of him?!" I noticed she was writing furiously.

'_It was only the first time he hit me. He was drunk. Please calm down.'_ I took a deep breath, calming myself to keep from scaring her.

"Rose, why haven't you told me, or anyone?"

'_Because there is nothing anyone could do. It's his word against mine, and no one will believe me over him. Plus, he's my father, and I'm only a girl.'_

"Rose," I sighed and sat back down. "You never answered if he was the reason you don't talk." I stated. I already knew the answer because of Christian but I needed her to tell me. This would be the biggest sign that she trusted me.

She took a deep breath and wrote, _'Yes, he is.'_

"Why, did he do something, or…?"

She took another deep breath. "It was a deal." I froze. She had spoken. She … had … spoken. I could barely process that she had done that. I … I didn't even consider that a possibility. I had fantasized about her voice, sure, but didn't think it would happen for quite some time. Her voice didn't sound like I had envisioned it to be. I had always thought it to be angelic, and as gorgeous as the rest of her. But her voice was rough, which was to be expected after years of not using it.

She reached over to the pitcher of water and poured herself a glass. I didn't know what to say so I stayed silent, waiting for her to make the first move. She sipped the water. "I didn't come here planning to talk. I wouldn't have talked anywhere but here."

"Why?"

"No one knows this is back here but me and you, no one to hear me."

"What the deal you made with your father?" I wanted to keep her talking. Her voice was slowly gaining strength.

"If I didn't talk, he wouldn't be allowed to marry me off to a guy who lived half across the country; someone who could be just like him. He accepted the deal as a joke, didn't think I could do it, but I did. And I've been silent ever since."

"An iron will, but why did you talk to me?"

"There's just something about you, something that I can't explain."

"But why didn't you talk to Lissa?" That would make more sense, her best friend for years, who stuck by her in all of this.

"I couldn't take the risk that she would tell Christian, I don't know him, therefore couldn't trust him."

I took a moment to think about how exactly to phrase my next statement. "Rose, I don't think I can just accept the fact that your father hit you."

"There's nothing you can do, that either of us can do."

"We could get married." I said it in an off-handed sort of way. But she froze and her eyes were wide. "I know that you don't want to get married to someone like your father. But I'm not like your father, I care about you, a lot." I was talking fast but I didn't care. I dug through my pocket and pulled out my wallet, whipping it open. I had my mother's ring, I always had it with me, and now it was time to use it. When I held it up, she gasped. "We could even make it official."

"Dimitri … I can't."

"What exactly are you saying?" _'I can't'_ isn't very exact. I was hoping that she meant she can't think or handle or something. I didn't want her to say no. She wouldn't regret it, I would treat her like a princess, everyone on the island treats their human mates like that, some even continue when their equals.

"I can't say yes, not right now." She refused to look me in the eye.

I lowered the ring. "Why?"

"It would go against everything that I believe in, everything that I have fought for. Please, you have to understand."

"I do, I just … couldn't think of another way to get you away from your father without it being against the law. Let's just forget the past three minutes, ok?"

She nodded. "Let's go on with the date just like I had planned."

"What did you plan?"

"I was hoping that you would read this mystery novel aloud, I just bought it and I don't know the ending. We could try to find out who the murderer is before the ending. And I brought snacks. I tried to replicate your picnic basket from the park, but I couldn't get the chocolate right. So I just went out and bought some instead."

"Good."

"Good that I can't make chocolate?"

"That means you'll always have to come back to me for something, chocolate." I chuckled.

"I guess so." She agreed with a wry grin on her face.

We both sat on the blanket, side by side, and I read. After a little while she rested her head on my shoulder. We snacked from the picnic basket, but the chocolates weren't as good as mine, which she got upset by. We both started throwing around guesses about who the murderer was but Rose stuck with her second chose, while I kept changing mine. We both had different answers when the murderer had been revealed. And she had been right, which she bragged about all the way home, because I walked her home.

'_Dimitri, I can't wait for this weekend. We finally get to stop sitting around.'_ She was back to writing on the pad, and I already was missing her voice.

"What do you want to be doing: drawing the posters or putting them up around town?"

'_Maybe both, start out doing one and then the other?'_

"Sounds good," I smirked. She raised her hand in a little wave and started to turn. "Ah-ah-ah," I tapped my cheek with my pointer finger and bent down. I had just meant it as a joke and had expected an eye roll. What I got was far better.

She rushed over to me and bypassed my cheek, placing her lips right on mine, just for a second. But that was all it took to get me addicted. As soon as her lips were gone and she was jogging for the front door, I wanted more.

I waited and listened when she went inside, to make sure her father wouldn't try anything again. But it was silent. I walked home with a huge grin on my face. I couldn't wait for Saturday.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Rose P.O.V

It's Saturday, nearly time to go to the barn. All day I had been working on created posters, so some girls could immediately start hanging the posters up. I gathered up all the papers and put them into a bag. I climbed out my window and started into the night.

I smiled, thinking about Wednesday. I still can't believe that I actually talked. But I'm glad that I did, it's been a really long time since I've talked. It felt good. The best part of the night was his face after I kissed him. He had been so surprised…. And, the kiss had been nice too. I know, it had only been a second, how could it have been good, right? But it had been. My lips had tingled long after he had left.

"Hi, Rose." A voice interrupted my thoughts, right before walking into the barn. But it was Dimitri; he could interrupt my thoughts any time. I nodded my head in greeting, and we strode in together. The usual set up was different. There were folding tables and chairs set around them, paper and utensils on each table. _Where did the tables come from?_ There were girls sitting around at each table, getting to work. "I have been here mostly all day, finding enough tables and paper and such." I mouthed a thank-you to him. I walked to the nearest table, Dimitri only a step behind. I plopped the giant stacks on papers I brought down. "Wow, this must have taken you all day!" He exclaimed. "Do you want to go start hanging them up?" I nodded. "I'll see if I can get anyone else to go. I'm thinking teams of two or three." He went up to the front of the barn and I felt a stab of jealously. I would have loved to run this, to have convinced the girls to take action. My asshole of a father has ruined everything. I took a deep breath and tried to get rid of the negative feelings. It's not Dimitri's fault, no reason to be mean to him.

"May I have everyone's attention?" Everyone stopped what they were doing. "We have enough posters to send out a couple of teams. I'm thinking six teams of two and three. Oh and I have whistles for everyone. Blow the whistle if you're in danger or lost or whatever reason, someone will hear and come as fast as they can. The whistles are in that bag over there, grab some before you leave. Anyone who wants to be in a team goes over to where Rose is standing." Girls stood and made their way over to me. Within minutes we had six teams. But there had been so many girls that wanted to go out that every team had three people, except one that had four. I had kind of been hoping to be alone with Dimitri. Sadly we allowed people to choose the teams they wanted, and for some reason Mia wanted our team and no one else wanted her.

We split all the papers into different piles and each team grabbed one and left, all going in different directions. We set in the direction of the firehouse and police station, putting of one or two papers on every building we passed.

Mia started talking as soon as we were all alone. "Dimitri, I hope you aren't still upset about the other day. Maybe we can still be friends."

"I'm sure that won't be a problem, Mia," Dimitri muttered but I noticed his eye roll. It didn't take much longer until we were at these two places, they were side by side. There was another team going to the hospital, another to the park, another to the theater, etc. "Mia do you mind going to the police station and hang up these, while we do the firehouse?"

"Of course," she said, extremely giddy and took the papers. She practically skipped away. It was really annoying how she only had two settings: bitchy and/or too happy.

"Rose, let's start from the back and move to the front." We walked around. We had planned to plaster as many posters on the big important buildings in town.

I was putting up a poster when I felt a hand on my waist, turning me around. With my back against the wall, Dimitri stepped in front of me. I trapped my bottom lip between my teeth. "Rose, I have a very important question to ask you. And don't worry; I'm not going to ask you to marry me again." I smiled. "Are you ticklish?" He asked with a huge ass grin. And immediately he started digging his fingers into my sides, not painfully, though. I was ticklish and nearly shrieked with laughter at the sensation. I tried to wiggle around to get away but couldn't. Dimitri laughed with me.

"Stop," I squealed, while still laughing. After a few more moments he did.

"Well that's good to know. You're very ticklish. I'm going to warn you, though. I might start doing that more often, your laugh is … adorable."

"Oh, you think so?" I said in a teasing voice.

"Hmmhmm," he came in closer. I flattened my back against the wall. The smile had left his face and he slowly leant in, head tilted slightly. His lips slowly applied pressure to mine; the tingles started back up just like on Wednesday. Except this time he didn't pull away. He moved in even closer, trapping my body between him and the building. My lips parted in response to his. He placed one large hand on my waist, and the other into my hair. "Rose," he whispered before deepening the kiss. I dragged my hands up his back, the muscles taught. He pressed even closer now; our bodies flush with each other. I reached up and copied his move, putting my hand in his extremely soft hair. I had never been kissed like this, never even fantasized about anyone, mostly because there was no one in our town that I like. But I was getting butterflies in my stomach and my face and chest were heating up. And most alarmingly, the tingles that I had been feeling in my lips were now in my chest, or rather they started in my chest, then they shot down to the place where I've never touched, other than to clean myself in the bath. This feeling was intense and exhilarating. And it ended way too soon.

A throat clearing made both Dimitri and I jump. Mia was standing a couple of yards away from us. Oh, god. What if she heard me talking? Could she have, what was the last thing I said? "Can we hurry up and get out of here; it's starting to get nippy?"

"Yeah, sure, we just got… distracted. We'll finish up this building then get going." He divided the rest of the papers between us and we quickly got to putting up the rest of the papers. We made our way back to the barn, in complete silence. I couldn't stop thinking about the kiss, it was amazing. I've never felt like that before. But I can't believe that we got caught, dread was filling every part of me, making my muscles sore. If she said anything it could ruin my whole life. And Mia is known to gossip.

Back at the barn Mia made her way inside but I held Dimitri back, and pulled him to the side. "Dimitri, if she tells anyone, all that I have worked for these past two years will be for nothing."

"You don't know if she heard you talking. We had been kissing for quite some time," he smirks and I blushed.

"But even the kissing, if it somehow got back to my father…" I left that statement open, for him to use his own imagination. I have to use mine too, I don't know exactly what he'd do, but I do know that it's not going to be good.

"Ok, I'll talk to her. Maybe I can convince her not to say anything, but if she says she's going to say something, what are you going to do?"

"Any chance that you have a spare bedroom?" I half-joked with a half-smile.

"Not where I'm currently staying, but we could always leave for my real home. I have plenty of space there. And I really think that you would like it there."

"I'll keep it on the list." I sighed, and gestured for us to go inside.

I went to sit at one of the tables, only one other girl sitting there. Her name was Sarah, she was pretty shy and quiet, which would explain why she was sitting alone. I watched Dimitri walk over to Mia and sit down. They talked for a moment and then they both nodded and Dimitri stood. He came back over to me and was about to sit, but I stood. I didn't want to stay here much longer, everything was dying down. The town was now appropriately plastered. "I made a deal with her; she said she won't say anything." We walked slowly, no need to get to my house as soon as possible. It wasn't extremely cold and we_ had_ left kind of early.

"What kind of deal?" I asked, suspicion shooting through my veins.

"That I'll go on a date with her and she'd keep quiet."

"What? That is not ok!"

He wrapped his hand in mine. "It's only one date, babe. It means nothing."

"Even if it doesn't mean anything, I don't want you to go through that. I see how annoying you think she is."

"It's worth it if you'll be ok in the end. Please don't worry or be upset, it's fine, ok?"

I nodded. We were nearly at my house now; I noticed a couple of lights were on from where we were. That is strange, usually my father and everyone else was asleep at this time. Maybe my father was up drinking still, which is good that I'm not going through the front door.

Before we could separate and go on our own ways I took a deep breath and gathered my courage. I pulled Dimitri down to my lips and started our kiss. It couldn't last long, just in case anyone was looking but I didn't want him to leave without getting another kiss. I pulled away way too quickly but couldn't help it. "Bye, Dimitri."

"Bye, my love."

I went to the backyard and climbed up the rope, and pulled it into the room, hid it under the bed. I giggle and placed a finger on my lip, the tingle slowly disappearing.

I yelped at the loud bang. My door had exploded inwards and my father was standing in the space it revealed. I expected him to come charging at me but instead he just stood there with an evil grin on his face. He spoke, "I know everything."


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Rose P.O.V

I stayed silent. Maybe he just meant that he knew that I was seventeen, or … or… anything besides what I think he knows.

"I know about your 'secret' little meetings and that you're a slut." He sneered. "Oh, and let's not forget that you've been talking. And if I recall that breaks our deal. So, how long have you been fucking him?" Tears sprang to my eyes at the harsh words.

"I haven't been, it's not like that!" I exclaimed, the jig was up, no point in staying silent now.

"That's not what I heard. Your little friend Mia, you know, with the perky tits, was worried about you, so she followed tonight. She found you at that little meeting, the one where you fight for rights that you don't deserve! She saw you with that man, getting down and dirty in the alleyway, just like a prostitute. I did not raise a prostitute!" And now he did storm over to me and hit me across the face, I crashed into the ground. He kicked me in the ribs, my body jumping into the air from the impact. "Fucking hell," he sighed. "I'm going to arrange for a marriage tomorrow. I'm going to not mention the fact that you're a whore." He started to walk away but quickly whipped around and kicked me again. Something snapped, I felt it, didn't hear it, but definitely felt it. I cried out, a sharp pain stabbing at my chest. I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut, praying that he wouldn't kick me again. If the rib hadn't already punctured a lunge it would if he kicked me again. He finally walked away; I could hear the thumps of his shoes. "Oh, and one last thing, you can say good-bye to that little _boyfriend_ of yours."

Tears leaked out of my eyes and the breath burst out of my lunges in short bursts, the pain too much to breathe deeply. Then the reality of what just happened sat in. My father was going to marry me off. Oh, hell to the no. I can't, there is no possible way. The man would probably be fat, and old, and just looking for a good rumble in bed. I imagined his fat clammy hands touching me, his nasty hot breath on my neck. I couldn't do that. I gathered all the strength I had, all the will power, and sat up. I could do this; I just had to do it slowly. After a few minutes I had managed to stand up. I hadn't started couching blood and the pain had only increased a miniscule amount now that I was standing. So I'm going to assume that the rib hadn't stabbed through my lunge. I sighed, and then winced. I slowly made it over to the door. I was going to have to be extremely quiet. I needed to get out of here, but I couldn't climb down the rope. Hopefully, my father was in his room, asleep in a drunken stupor.

I made my way down the stairs, clenching my teeth in pain. I had to pause multiple times but I finally made it out the door. I didn't know where I could go. I would've gone to Dimitri's but I didn't know where that was. I didn't want to go to Lissa's but I had nowhere else to go. I made my way to her house, thankful that she didn't live that far away from me. I winced, groaned, and moaned a lot, while clutching my side as hard as possible, as if I was trying to hold myself together.

I wanted to be angry, with Mia, with my father, with myself. But, honestly, the pain was way too distracting to focus on anything else. You know the joke where when you say 'it couldn't get worse than this' and then it does get worse. Well, that's what happened right now. It started to rain, really rain, and I was drenched within seconds. The sheets of rain pouring down obstructed my view. My tears mixed with the rain. I was nearly to Lissa's house when I heard my name. I shook my head; I must be hearing things now.

"Rose, is that you?" I heard a male voice, closer now. I lifted my head and squinted through the rain. I figure came through the wall of rain and stood in front of me.

"Christian," I coughed out.

"What are you doing out here?" He seemed to not realize the actuality of me talking.

"I could ask you the same thing," I chuckled.

"I was just coming from Lissa's, I'm going home. Are you in pain? What happened to you?"

"My father happened," I winced as I shifted my weight.

"Oh, god, ok, why don't you come with me? Dimitri's staying with me and he can help you."

"Is it far? Because if it is I don't think that I can make it."

"It's not far, but I can help you." He wrapped an arm around my waist and lifted mine over his shoulders. We walked slowly, but steadily now. By the time we got to his front door, I was panting extremely hard.

"What did your father do?" He asked while he let go of me to open the door.

"Kicked me in the chest, broke my rib," which I'm sure he already guessed. What other reason would I have for clutching at my side?

"Dimitri?!" he called out once inside. He helped walk me over to the couch and place me down. "He's not here, but he should be back soon." Where the hell could he be? Christian was really picking up the speed. He was talking really quickly and he was flitting around me and the room, making small adjustments. He kept trying to make me more comfortable but there wasn't really much he could do. I finally asked him for some tea with sugar just to get him out of the room. I really just needed a moment to close my eyes. But before he left I heard him mutter, "God, Dimitri is going to kill someone, most likely the father, and probably me if I can't explain fast enough." And then he was gone. Does Dimitri normally go around killing people or was that just an expression?

Christian was back with the tea with a minute, he really didn't want to leave my side apparently. "Thank you," I said in response to being handed the tea.

"It's a little hot, so be careful." I sipped it carefully; completely aware that Christian's eyes weren't leaving my face. He sat on the coffee table across from me.

"Maybe we should call a doctor?" As much as I hated the idea, the bone had to be set.

"Uh, well," then the door opened and Dimitri stepped through the door. I could have cried. He burst through the door and gaze went to me immediately, as if he knew that I was here.

"Rose!" He rushed over to me. "Please, tell me that you are ok? What are you doing here? And why have you been crying?" He turned to glare at Christian, "What did you say to her? I will kill you Christian!" He lunged for him, which jostled my leg, causing the pain in my chest to flare up. I cried out, which caused him to stop in his tracks. "Rose, you _are_ hurt!" He slowly and gingerly sat beside me, but that still caused the cushion of the couch dent and made me lean to the side. I winced and turned my head, not wanting Dimitri to see the pain blatantly shown on my face.

But of course, he wouldn't have that. He used two fingers on my chin to turn my face back towards him. His eyes were soft and searching. "Please, Rose, tell me where it hurts."

"Dimitri, it all fell apart, everything. Mia must have left as soon as we did and got home before me. She must have told my father, Dimitri. He was so angry. He hurt me again. He kicked me in the ribs, one of them is broken." A sob racked through my body and interrupted me.

"Rose, everything is going to be fine, I promise. I would never let anything happen to you. But I'm going to need you to really trust me for the next few minutes. It's not going to make any sense but I promise that it's the truth. Do you think you could have an open mind for a little bit?"

"What about my ribs, I need a doctor."

"We'll get to that too, but do you think you could hold on just a little bit longer, sweetheart? I promise that we'll get you all fixed up," he said in his softest voice. It made me want to go along with anything you said, especially when he used that endearment on me. I'm sure any endearment would have worked, really. I nodded my head. He said I had to trust him and if he said he would get me help he would. He wouldn't leave me in pain.

"Ok, baby. This is going-"

"Wait, do you mind if I go to my room before this? Or do you need me?"

"Just go!" he snapped. Christian made his way down the hallway and I heard a door creek shut. "As I was saying – This is going to be hard for you to hear, to understand." He took a deep breath. "Rose, I'm not like you. I'm a vampire."..….oh….

Plz Review :P


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Rose P.O.V

"So I'm gonna go." I made to get up but winced and Dimitri gently pushed me back down.

"Please, Rose, you said you'd keep an open mind." He begged with a desperate look on his face.

"Fine, but you must know how absolutely crazy this sounds."

"I know, but it's true. I can prove it, if you want."

"Not quite yet. I think I need a moment to adjust first. Just continue with what you were saying."

"Ok, we don't need to call a doctor. All you have to do is drink my blood. It will heal you completely, you won't feel any pain. Please let me do this for you."

"Ok, that's disgusting. You're going to have to prove that you're a vampire. There is no way I'll be drinking your blood or anything until I have proof, and maybe not even then."

"Ok, I will but you have to drink. If you don't drink and continue to move around the bone could shift and move into your lunge." He stood up and then he practically disappeared. There was a slight blur but he was gone. I tensed, this was impossible. No one could move that fast. I didn't think that he would be able to prove he was a creature of the night, I thought maybe he had lost it. My bottom lip started to tremble; I really just needed a good cry. "Rose, sweetie, I'm right here." He was back in front of me, bending at the waist so his face was in front of mine. He kissed my forehead with his hands on either side of my face.

Dimitri was a vampire.

"Rose-"

I interrupted him, "Please, just let me process this, ok?" He nodded slowly, eyes never leaving my face as he sat on the coffee table.

Dimitri was a vampire. But he was still Dimitri, right? How could he not be? Why would he act all nice to me and then kill me? He wouldn't. He's only telling me he's a vampire because he wants to end this awful pain. That means that he isn't … evil. That he still cares about me. I know that I still care about him? What I feel for him couldn't just vanish into thin air in one moment … unless….

"Do you kill people?"

"No! But to be completely honest, I have in the past, when I was first turned into a vampire." Was I ok with that? Could I be ok with that?

"Does your heart still beat?"

"Yes, just slower than yours."

"You drink blood?"

"Yes, but as I said I don't kill. I don't have to. I just find a human, drink from them, and compel them to forget. It's completely harmless."

"Compel?"

"Yes, compulsion, it's like mind-control. All vampires have the ability; they just have to learn how to do it. And if they practice can get really good at it."

"Oh."

"Any more questions?" he asked while leaning forward, elbows on his knees.

"Do you want to drink my blood?"

He swallowed. "Yes, from the moment I saw you I wanted to drink your blood. Your blood sings to me. But I would never take it from you without your permission first."

"Have you ever compelled me?"

"No."

"Are there others like you?"

"Yes, there are. Christian is a vampire, and a lot of the people on the island that I'm from are also vampires."

"Has he ever fed from Lissa?! Does she know that he's a vampire?!"

"No and no. He and I are very similar. He is a very honorable man. He has never tasted her blood. And he hasn't told her yet. He plans to do it the night before their wedding."

"Tell me about the island." Now that I was being distracted the pain wasn't as bad as before.

"Well, it was founded a long time ago. It's a safe haven for vampires, no human not on the island knows about its existence. There are humans on the island, willing volunteers. They are there to feed the vampires."

"Are they treated nicely?"

"That's a difficult question. It's not slavery, they aren't bound, like I said, they want to be there. But they aren't treated equality. They sleep in the same house as the vampire they feed and aren't treated badly, just not equally."

"How are you turned into a vampire?" This is something I'm highly curious about, just in case he might have been doing something to start the process.

"You have to die with vampire blood in your system and vampires usually only turn their mates." He looked like he regretted saying that last bit, well too bad.

"What's a mate?"

"Every vampire has this one person, may they be human or vampire, which they are meant to be with. The male usually treats the female extremely well," I opened my mouth to protest that, "But they are equal for the most part. They will fight alongside each other, make decisions with each other. The male just tends to worship the female just a little bit more in couples. And some females soak up the attention, loving every bit of it. Some believe they deserve to be worshipped. And others are bashful about it; those are the best I think. They are so cute when the mate does something for them in public and they get this little blush and they can't meet anyone's eyes. It's adorable." I giggled at his dreamy expression and he snapped back to reality and gave me a gorgeous smile. Even with the knowledge that he drank other people's blood, his smile still gave me goosebumps.

"How often do you need to feed on people?" I stopped giggling and went back to the questionnaire.

"I'm older than most, so I only need to feed once to twice a week depending on what I'm doing. Newborns need to feed three times a day, and once they are a year old they are supposed to be down to once a day. They'll stay in that zone for quite a few years, before they may start forgetting to feed because they don't need it. Also, nearly ninety nine percent of the time when one mate is a newborn and the other is not, the one who is a full vampire will let the newborn have all their feedings from them. When a newborn drinks from a vampire, it can strengthen them, and the bond between the two."

I wanted to ask him if he had a mate and was about to, but what if I didn't like the answer, what if he said yes. What if he said no? But what if he said it was me, yeah, I definitely didn't like that possibility. I decided on a different question instead. "Are you going to turn me?"

"I… had thought about it." He said carefully, as well he should. No way would he be making that decision for me.

"Can I give you my blood now?" He asked.

"That still sounds really repulsive."

"I could put it in your tea; hide the taste of it some."

"You promise that it will heal me?"

"I swear." I nodded, with doubt and disgust coursing through me.

He got up and left the living room. I looked around the room and noticed something. There was a piece of paper on the floor with writing. Dimitri was about to heal me so I saw now harm in getting up and walking over to the out of place item. I bent over and felt something shift in my chest. I screamed in pain and dropped to the ground. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. My breathing was getting strange. Dimitri appeared next to me on one side and a moment later Christian was on the other. I coughed and blood spewed from my mouth. Oh my god. I had to roll over and vomit up the blood currently in my lunges. I'm going to drown on my own blood, oh my god.

Dimitri forced me onto my back. Christian took over holding me down. I tried to talk, I had to tell them to let go, I had to get the blood out, I had to breathe. I saw, in a haze, as Dimitri put his wrist in his mouth and then jerked away, more blood entered the scene. He pressed the gushing wound onto my mouth. How am I supposed to swallow when I couldn't breathe, when my only urge was to roll over and force the blood out of my airways? My vision started to blacken, just in the corners, but enough to freak me out even more. I'm going to die. Oh my god. I could see both of their mouth's moving quickly. Dimitri looked scared. I was scared. He pulled his wrist away and I spit up more blood. He had given up, I had given up. _Good-bye Dimitri. _My vision completely clouded over. The last thing I saw was a tear slide down Dimitri's cheek. _Hopefully, I'll see you again._

Please don't hate me! And please review


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Rose P.O.V

My eyes shot open. I'd been slowly swimming out of unconsciousness when I remembered what had happened. I had died. I could see a white ceiling above me. "Is this heaven?" or am I in hell?

I heard a chuckle. "If this was heaven, I wouldn't be here." I turned my head and there was Dimitri, lying beside me on the bed. I lunged at him and wrapped my arms around his neck. Or at least I tried. As I said, he was lying down so I pretty much just accomplished lying on top of him. But he sat up slightly and wrapped his arms around me tightly. He put his face in my neck and breathed deeply.

"I was so scared, Dimitri." I whispered into his chest.

"Trust me, I was too. You really scared the shit out of me. Seeing you there, on the floor, I swear my heart stopped beating." He lay back down and took me with him, so I was laying on top him. I didn't care about the indecency of it all; it felt too good being in his arms. I lay my head on his chest and put my legs between his. My feet were almost flush with his, just a little above. This made me really realize how much taller and larger he was than me.

"How am I alive?" I traced my finger over his heart in circular patterns.

"This is going to be slightly disturbing to you. After you passed out, we cut open your chest and forced our blood into you, right into your lunge. It was hard because we had to keep the cut we had made open to make sure that your rib got fixed, but our blood had wanted to close it. So anyway, once the rib was out of your lunge I fed more blood down your throat to make sure that everything was ok."

"Ew," I wish I hadn't asked.

He chuckled. "Yeah, but at least you're ok now." He started copying what I was doing; he traced random designs on my back with a fingertip, raising goosebumps.

"Will it leave a scar?"

"You're lucky on that, it won't leave a scar." I looked down to peer down the top of my dress. And then I realized what I was wearing. I jumped out of his arms, fully aware and awake now. "What's wrong?" There was nowhere I could go. I couldn't leave the room because who knows where Christian was, and I couldn't just stand next to the bed. So I dived under the blankets on the bed.

"Dimitri!" I chastised.

"What?" he exclaimed.

"I'm practically naked!" I was only wearing a t-shirt, one of his. I mean, it smelt amazing but I was so indecent. It dwarfed me and covered my upper thighs, but the rest of my legs were bare.

"Well, I couldn't leave you in that dress, it was covered in blood."

"But – But-"

"And it's not like I just have dresses offhand." He smirked. "And you have to admit, it's a very soft and comfortable shirt, right?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"And you trust me, you know that I wouldn't try anything, or ogle at your bare skin. You know that I'm different that ninety percent of the male population."

"Yes, I do know that."

"Well, then, you shouldn't feel embarrassed, or ashamed, or scared, or whatever your feeling right now, ok?" I nodded. "So, why don't you come back out of there, and come back to lying with me? I really liked holding you."

"I liked being held." I slowly and shakily came out from under the blanket. I did trust him, but this was still hard for me. From birth you're taught not to be showing an inappropriate amount of skin to men, and this was definitely inappropriate. I slowly shifted until I was back into lying his arms, just as we were before.

"Good?" He stroked my hair slowly.

"Very." We lay in silence for quite some time, him just petting my hair. "Dimitri?"

"Yes?"

"What happens now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I can't go back to my father; he'll just marry me off to some guy across the country."

Dimitri let out this low growling noise, "I would _never_ let that happen."

"Ok, so what now? Where am I going to go? I can't stay here."

"I was hoping you would come with me to my island."

"To the island infested with vampires, sounds safe." I teased.

"It would be, Rose, no one would hurt you. Not with me around."

"I can't leave Lissa, she's like my sister." I guess now I was fishing for an excuse not to go. This was huge, a big change. I hate change. Moving to an island would be the biggest decision of my life.

"I'll tell you a secret. On the night before Christian and Lissa's wedding, he is going to tell her what he is. Then after they get married, Christian is going to bring her to the island. You won't have to be without her for long."

"But what if she doesn't except what he is?"

"Do you honestly think she wouldn't? After being with him these past couple years?"

I sighed, "No."

"There you go, then." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Rose, I know what you're doing. I don't want you to be afraid. I promise that you will love it there. There are many beautiful places around the island." His voice held a strain.

I pushed away from him and sat in the middle of the bed, legs folding beneath me, still right beside him. He watched me. "Dimitri, I - I never thought someone like you would have come along, someone who would change every single thing about me and my life, for the better, mostly. And I can't believe I'm about to say this, but yes, I'll come to the island with you. But I want it to be known that I don't have any other options."

"You could just run away."

"Why are you giving me options, especially since I just agreed to go with you?" Not that I hadn't already thought about that but still.

"Right, maybe I should compel it out of you." He joked.

"That's a great idea!"

"What?" He gave me a complete look of confusion.

"I want you to compel me?"

"To forget what I just told you… so you won't run away?"

"No, because I want to know what compulsion feels like."

"I don't really know if it has a feel to it, it just happens."

"Please, Dimitri." I whined, and pouted out my lower lip slightly.

"Darn you, with that face I could never say no."

"I'll remember that." I giggled.

Dimitri sat up and scooted a little closer to me, and put his hands on either side of my face, gently but firmly. "Rose, I want you to forget about any options, other than coming with me to the island, that you could take to get yourself out of this mess. I want you to forget about running away. Do you understand me?" The whole time Dimitri had been speaking I couldn't look away from his eyes. They were the only thing that I could see. The only thing that I could hear was his voice. The only thing that I could feel was the strange warmth that came over my body; it was calming and made me feel safe. Everything was ok; I was safe here with Dimitri.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, dislodging Dimitri's hands from my cheeks, breaking our gaze. "What were we talking about?"

He put his hands back onto my face and forced our eyes to meet. "Remember." One word, three syllables, had the power to crash the memory he stole from me back into my conscious.

"Holy shit," I muttered, putting a hand to my head. I felt strangely dizzy.

"Yeah, it can be a bit disorienting the first time around."

"Oh, my God, that was so cool! Can we do that again?!"

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah, that was amazing. Yeah, I lost a memory, but then I got it right back. I had completely forgotten what you had said. That is such a cool power. First dates could be saved. You say an embarrassing thing, boom! Fixed with compulsion; interviews, dates, any embarrassing moment really, can be fixed with just a little brain power. Wait, can you make people do things?" He nodded slowly, "How come vampires haven't taken over the world yet?!"

"If vampires were like you, I'm they would have," he had the slight expression of fear and worry on his face.

"Oh, no, I would never take over the world if I was a vampire! I'm just surprised that vampires aren't exploiting this power. It could lead to so much."

"It could, but it's dangerous. Vampires may be stronger and such, but we can still be killed, especially in daylight."

"But the sun thing is a myth; we've had dates in the afternoon, when the sun was at its highest."

"I know, the burst into flames thing is fake, but we are weaker in the sun."

"Oh."

"Yeah," he said simply.

I gasped, a thought coming to me. "You should compel me to do something!" I practically bounced up and down on the bed.

"Like what?" he asked wearily, apparently not too keen on the idea.

"I don't know, but not something I don't want to do." We both thought for a second. "How about you ask me to kiss you? I'm ok with that if you are?" I bit my lip.

"Are you sure, Rose?"

"Yes, as long as it's only a simple kiss and no more."

"Of course, are you ready?"

"Yes," I practically whispered, suddenly very nervous. I'm glad Dimitri's gaze was focused on my face, or he would have seen my hands beginning to shake. Ok, maybe I should have asked for something else; like to get up and dance, or to make a funny face. Something a lot more innocent in the bedroom of the guy I'd been dating.

But it was too late.

Dimitri eyes became my world, the chocolate brown interior consuming me. His voice became the universe, everything that surrounded my world. His hands became the stars, the heat that lit up the space between worlds. I didn't register the exact words he was saying but I found myself leaning forward. I wasn't nervous anymore, I felt safe and warm, just like before. Our lips met, our noses brushed. Dimitri's eyes closed and the compulsion ended, but the kiss didn't.

Dimitri, instead of pulling away, turned his head deepening the kiss. I pulled away, but only to lick my lips. I captured his lips in mine for a change. I took charge of the kiss, at least for a few moments. Until Dimitri returned my fervor and slowly lowered me back onto the bed, lying lightly on top of me. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck. The weight of his body on top of mine was exhilarating. If any older woman knew what we were doing they would be scandalized. Technically, I was scandalized, but it felt too good to care. He dragged his hands down my sides and one hand rested on my hip, fingers digging in. And the other hand went further down, onto the bare skin on my thigh. My heart felt like it skipped a beat. His rough-skinned hand scraped down further until it hooked under my knee and forced my leg over his hips. I gasped, something in my lower regions tightening.

He moved his lips from mine to my throat, sucking and nipping slightly, making me gasp with each pinch of his teeth. He moved his hips, grinding down onto me. I moaned because his movements had touched something that caused a shot of pleasure to shoot up my spine. "Oh, god, Rose," He groaned, and rotated his hips again, emitting another moan from me. I dragged my nails down his back, not doing much damage through the thick layer of his shirt.

His lips came back to mine and we resumed the kiss as if it had never ended. He sexily rolled his tongue into my mouth. I had always thought that this type of kissing would be gross and really wet but it wasn't like that with Dimitri. It actually made my arousal increase. I tentatively tried to copy what he was doing with his tongue, but I was content on letting him take over on that front, for now at least. "You are so sexy." He groaned. Me? No, I don't think so. I've never been 'sexy' in my life. "You're turning me on." He groaned out against my throat as he again thrust his hips into mine, making both of us moan the other's name. It was kind of an ego booster to know that I was doing to him what he was doing to me. But I wasn't really thinking about that right now. I wasn't really thinking about anything. I was just focusing on how everything felt. The only thing I thought of was Dimitri and what he was doing. Which was amazing, until….

His hands drifted back down to the place where my shirt ended and my bare skin began. He bunched the ends in his fists and started to slide it, ever so slowly, upwards. Did I want this?

Are we going to go all the way?

Please review; let me know how their make out scene is. Let me know if it needs improvement. I'm still kind of new to the whole sexy times stuff.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Rose P.O.V

_Are we going to go all the way?_

The answer to that question was no. Once the shirt brushed past my hips, my hands, without even a thought, trapped his where they were. I knew that if he wanted to continue he could but he didn't. "Dimitri, I-I can't," I panted, my breasts were heaving up and down, my lunges trying to make up for lost oxygen. Dimitri's hands slowly dropped my shirt, and he placed his head beside mine, his shoulder right in front of my chin. He groaned. I didn't know what to say.

Dimitri rolled off of me until he lay shoulder to shoulder with me. I noticed that he was panting as well. "I'm sorry." My voice wavered, I didn't know why but I felt like crying.

"Babe, no, no, no, don't you dare apologize." He rolled onto his side to look at me. I turned my head to look at him, but my limbs felt like jelly, so I didn't want to move. "It's my fault, I didn't mean for that to get so out of hand. I kind of forgot myself and just let my emotions take over."

I said something that any proper young lady wouldn't, "Or your penis." Which made him laugh, and I joined in.

"Well, yes, I suppose that too." He said after our laughter had died out. "I'm sorry that that happened."

"I'm not." I said honestly, turning my gaze to the white ceiling instead of him.

"You aren't?" He sounded surprised.

"No, it … was amazing. You didn't do anything wrong, I just- I'm just not ready for the whole thing yet." I spoke slowly, thinking it through as I went along.

"I'm glad, Rose." We sat in silence for quite some time, both in our own little worlds. But our silence was interrupted by three sharp knocks on the door. I jumped, becoming painfully aware of my half-nakedness. I dived under the blankets before Dimitri gave the ok for the person to come in.

It was Christian. He started talking really fast. "I'm sorry to interrupt whatever is happening in here, but Lissa is coming over. Your father is looking for you, and he went to talk with her. She sent a letter in warning that she would be here at noon, and its noon now."

"Understood, try to keep her occupied for as long as possible. I'll fill Rose in." Christian left. "Ok, as I've said before, she doesn't know that there is such a thing as vampires, and we need to keep it that way, for Christian's sake. Do you think you can manage that, or do you want me to compel you?"

"I can manage."

"You can't tell her everything that happened last night. You can't tell her about the broken rib, or practically dying."

"Dimitri, I -" we were interrupted.

"Where is she!?" I heard Lissa's voice. Dimitri stood up and opened the door, only seconds later did Lissa storm through the door. She launched herself to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Oh, my god, I was worried sick. You're father came to me early this morning, asking where you were. I knew immediately that something was wrong. I sent the letter and went looking throughout the town, but I couldn't find you. I had wanted to come here, because I knew that Dimitri was here. But I didn't want to show up unannounced just in case you weren't here. Are you ok?"

"Yes, I am, especially after sleeping half the day away." Both of the boys were leaning up against the wall farthest away from us. I knew that they were both listening attentively to my answers.

"What happened?" Something dawned on her. "You're talking!"

"Yup, which is kind of what lead to what happened."

"Explain." She ordered, leaving no room for argument.

"I talked to Dimitri. And I'm really sorry, I know that I said when I finally did talk it would be to you. But it just kind of happened. I hadn't really thought about it before hand."

"I'm not upset, just excited that I finally get to have all those girl talks we've missed out on." I chuckled, typical Lissa, never a mean bone in her body.

"Anyway, Mia, she caught me and Dimitri talking, at the meeting yesterday."

"So that's where the posters came from? The whole town is talking about them, though most of them are torn down by now."

"Yeah, we were hanging them up around town in teams, and I talked a little bit to Dimitri and she heard. Dimitri talked to her to see if she would stay quiet, and she played it off as if she would. Then she snuck her way to my house and told my father everything. She pretended as if she had only been following me instead of actually being in the meeting herself. Anyway, my father took it out on me, threatening me and hitting me around a little bit. I was on my way to your house when I was intercepted by your fiancé." She turned to give him a glare, and he playfully looked scared. I had to admit they did make a cute couple, but you won't be hearing me say that to him, though. He's cocky enough.

"Well, I'm glad that you are ok, Rose." We embraced each other tightly.

"But what are you going to do?"

I need to tell her about the island, but has Christian already told her about where he lives. Not all the details, but at least the fact that he does live on an island. I can't blow his cover now. Despite how much it hurts me to lie to her; he needs to be the one to tell her. I started to say that I didn't know but I was interrupted.

"She's going to come to me to the island."

"Oh, you live there too?" Apparently she has heard of this island.

"Yes, that's how Christian and I know each other."

"Ok, but you are ok with this?" She looked back to me.

"Yes, I am. I can't stay here. My father may hate me and want to get rid of me, but he wants me to suffer. He's not going to stop looking, not for a while at least."

"But we won't be able to see each other." I noticed in the corner of her eyes tears formed, which, of course, made my eyes begin to water as well.

"I know, but we'll see each other soon. And we'll be able to write back and forth."

"I suppose."

"So, it'll be ok."

"Ok, but you can't go there with nothing." She had a determined gleam about her now. "You're not going to leave right away, right?" She asked Dimitri, who shook his head negatively. "Great, I'm going to start smuggling you stuff. Stuff that you'll need, and stuff that I want you to have, also the stuff I know that you'll want. I'll have to go to your room to get some of it though." She bit her lip worriedly.

"Don't worry, Lissa, I'll go with you." Christian popped in.

"Great." She stood. "I'm going to go shopping for stuff that you'll definitely need for your journey." She started to leave, but grabbed Christian and dragged him out of the room before she did. I wasn't upset that she left so early, I knew that she always loved having a task to fulfil.

And that's how the next few days passed, her bring me things that she thought I would need. Dresses, two pairs of shoes, some new and some of my own jewelry and books, some stuff of hers to remember her by, etc. The days also passed with chaste kisses from Dimitri. We didn't have a repeat of what happened on his bed that first day and he went to sleeping on the couch, despite my many pleas to end that. He claimed that I needed privacy, but I felt bad taking his room. And I had been perfectly content sharing it. But maybe he didn't trust himself around me. That made me smile. He did tell me one night that he was leaving to go feed. And I had mixed feelings about that. He had to do it, but it meant that he could be sucking on some other girl's throat. We planned to leave on Sunday, a whole week at their house. I was worried about leaving, but I was also strangely excited.

Please review for more. Next chapter will be their escape, maybe a couple complications will occur…


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Rose P.O.V

We're leaving tonight. That was the one, main thing on my mind all day. I didn't want to go, mainly because Lissa wasn't coming with me. But she spent all day with me today, which really freaked the guys out, because we kept crying. They were both tip-toeing around us, as if any move they made would make us cry more. But they didn't want to stay away from us; they both were hovering like crazy. There was this one moment in the kitchen that really scared Dimitri.

I had gone to get a glass of water for Lissa and me. In the kitchen I dropped one of the glasses and it shattered at my feet. Dimitri was with Lissa in the other room and had come running at the sound. He found me on my knees trying to pick up the bigger pieces up, tears streaming down my face again. Dimitri had scooped me up out of the mess and sat me on the counter. I hadn't realized that I had cut my hands. Dimitri grasped my fingers and licked the blood off of the scratches. They stopped bleeding immediately. He looked really exasperated, which only lead to more tears streaming down my face. He wiped the tears away and laid his forehead against mine. We talked; he wanted to make sure that I actually wanted to do this. And I did. I was willing to take the next step in my life, it was just hard. I was leaving everything that I've always known, that I grew up with. And on top of it all, I had to leave Lissa behind. But he reminded me, again, that Lissa would be coming with me shortly.

But now both of our suitcases were ready and waiting by the door. Lissa and I had said our final farewells. We were all ready to go. Christian was going to cart us to the docks. Apparently there is a ship that only comes to the docks once a month that will take us to the island. Tonight is the night. I didn't want it to be the night, but it had to be.

Dimitri and I were holding hands, sitting side by side. I was resting my head on his shoulder, trying not to fall asleep. I hadn't slept well the night before and now we had to be awake to go to the docks. Dimitri said that I could sleep once we were on the ship but that was still more than an hour away. It was nearly ten o'clock and Christian had left to take Lissa home twenty minutes ago. He would be back shortly to take us to the ship. I sighed and Dimitri's thumb brushed over my knuckles. I smiled.

I now had someone who cared about me on a level that was more than friendship. That had always been what I had wanted. Someone who loved me for me, not just because of my body, or because they thought they had to through the arranged marriage or something. Either way it's disgusting.

My eyes started to close but the front door opened and closed waking me up. "Time to go, Rose." We stood up and turned, expecting to see Christian coming into the room. Instead, it was my enraged looking father. I froze. Dimitri emitted a growl. And my father looked around the room, and then laughed as if he had been told the funniest jokes.

"I was always afraid that my little girl would turn into a slut. Having sex out of marriage and this just confirms it. Hiding out here because you know that you're guilty, you just don't want to admit it." Dimitri started forward at my father but I grabbed his arm. I didn't want my father dead or hurt or… I don't know. He's a jerk, yes, but he's just sad and lonely. He hadn't always been like this. "You're tainted. And I'm going to be the loving father you know me to be and I'm going to take you back with me. And I'm going to marry you to someone respectful."

"That's not going to happen." I cut him off from his rant.

"What did you just say to me, young lady?"

"You heard me. I'm through being bullied by you. I love Dimitri and I'm going to leave with him, with or without your permission.

"You little bitch," he started towards me. Dimitri stepped in front of me. But then my father did the unexpected. He pulled out a gun and shot Dimitri right in the chest. Everything slowed down. I noise was piercing the air and I realized it was me, screaming. Dimitri was falling to the floor; my father threw the gun across the room. My father was in my face. There was a pain in my arm, a pulling. My father's face disappeared. Christian's replaced it.

Everything snapped back into focus and to the right speed. There was a sharp pain in my face but other than that I was fine. I dropped to the ground, kneeling beside Dimitri. His shirt was drenched with blood but it had appeared to have stopped bleeding. Christian was on the other side of Dimitri, tearing the shirt off of his body. "Rose, look away." Dimitri grunted through the pain.

"No." I responded stubbornly. I grasped his hand in mine and forced myself to watch him and what Christian was doing to him. Christian was digging his hands into the wound and Dimitri was clenching his teeth, groaning slightly. "What are you doing?" I whispered.

"I need to take the bullet out. His body will heal around it, otherwise." That is so gross, not the healing part, but the finger in chest part. I couldn't watch that part anymore and instead focused on Dimitri's face.

"You ok?" Dimitri whispered.

I chuckled. "Isn't that my line?"

"I supposed that's true."

"You ok?"

"I'm getting there." He grunted one last time and Christian pulled the bullet from his chest.

"Dimitri?" Christian's one word question seemed to mean more to him than it did to me.

"Yes. Help me into the carriage. But first can you grab the luggage?" Christian stood to leave. Dimitri tried to sit up but I forced him back down. He was just shot, no way was he going to just get up and walk away. Not on my watch.

"We can't still be leaving?" I exclaimed.

"We have to go. Otherwise we have to wait another month. I'll be fine in a little bit."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, but…"

"But…? What?"

"I hate to ask you this but is there any way that you could let me feed a little from you. We don't have time to make a detour and it would really speed up the healing process. It won't hurt you and I won't take much. But if you are against it, I completely understand."

"Dimitri, stop. Of course, I'll help you."

"You'll have to do that in the carriage, we have to go." Christian came over and helped Dimitri off of the floor and placed some gauze and tape over the wound. It was slightly smaller but was still bleeding, just a little bit. Christian limped across the room with Dimitri's arm over his shoulder and placed him inside the carriage. I followed, but not before noticing my father unconscious, hopefully, on the floor. I climbed in behind him and Christian went to the front. We started moving in seconds. I moved to sit right beside Dimitri. The carriage was rocking but not too roughly.

"Are you sure?" I nodded. She slowly brushed my hair away from my neck, the tips of his fingers giving me goosebumps. He leaned down towards me. He wasn't slow, he wasn't caring. Not like he usually is. And I'm not mad about that. He was just shot, he was in pain. He had a bleeding wound in his chest.

His fangs pierced my throat. He lied. There was pain, but it was only for a second. Like a really sharp pinch. But it died down and morphed into a strange pleasure and calmness emanating from the puncture spot. I wasn't afraid and I didn't want to pull away. I actually wanted to get closer. It felt like getting aroused. The tingling feeling you get in your abdomen and lower. But it was addictive.

And it didn't last long. Dimitri pulled his fangs from my flesh but didn't move his head. He kept his lips on my skin, kissing me gently. He kissed up my neck over my jaw and attached his soft lips to mine. It quickly turned fierce. There was a coppery taste, and I knew what it was but I didn't want to actually put a word to it, or I might just disgust myself out. He forced himself to pull away.

"Are you ok?" We both said at the same time, and laughed.

"You first," he offered.

"I'm fine." I felt a little woozy but otherwise, I was ok.

"Good and I'm a lot better now than I was before. I can even prove it." He pulled up his shirt to reveal the shot wound. It was healed, well, mostly. There was still this welt looking thing. "You're blood really did the job. Kind of better than what I expected."

"Awesome."

Within an hour we were at the docks. Christian and Dimitri had a swift farewell, quite unlike mine and Lissa's. The men who ran the ship recognized Dimitri and we were let on immediately and given a room to share. It wasn't as awkward as the first night in his bedroom. Not that it really had the opportunity to be. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out.

But that didn't last very long. The motion of the ship kept me up and made me super nauseous, which kept Dimitri up as well. The ocean is really beautiful, but being on top of it in a rickety ship was not for me. Thankfully it wouldn't last too much longer.

Sorry it took so long for me to update, school had started up and I was beyond tired, and couldn't find the time. And the reason I keep saying carriage is because the first car hadn't been made yet and even if it had not many people would have had some. So carriage might not make exact sense but it's better than automobile. Please review; let me know how I'm doing.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Dimitri P.O.V

It took us three days to get to the island. And Rose, well, Rose definitely doesn't have any sea legs, nor did she find them. She was sick the whole time. I felt awful for her. She could barely keep anything down, and she was extremely pale. I kept trying to get her to go above deck, for the fresh air would be nice for her. But she just wanted to lie in bed. And when I did get her to go up she only seemed to get worse. Thankfully today is the last day. A man had just called _land ho!_

I rushed under deck and slammed open the door… and froze. Rose's back was to me, her bare back. Her bottom half was covered but her lean, smooth back was facing me. "I- uh," I stuttered.

"I heard the call for land, so I decided to dress." She spoke evenly, without turning around.

"Right," I said, while the curve of her back demanding my full attention.

"Are you just going to stand there and stare?" She asked and when I looked up from her back, I saw that her head was turned to look at me.

"Sorry, it's just … you're so beautiful." I could see the blush form on her cheeks but then I turned around and waited outside the door.

After a moment the door opened and she poked her head out. "All set." We both went in the room to grab the luggage, since I had already dressed later. She seemed to be gaining her strength, probably the knowledge that she would be off of the ship soon.

We made our way up top and waited for the boat to be docked. I watched Rose's eyes while she took it the cliffs on one side of the island and the sea shore on the other. That was where we were docking. There were two parts of the shore, one for the people, and one for the ships. Most of the island was also covered with forests, very tall trees hiding the town in the very center.

It was so nice to be home. I couldn't wait to go and see Victoria, my sister. It would be so nice to go and sleep in my own bed, in my own room. And now I had someone to share that with. I couldn't wait to show her around. First, my house, and before anything else, she needs to eat. She's barely had anything these past three days.

We made out our off the ship and onto stable land. Rose almost fell and she had to grab onto my arm to keep from falling. The new feel of the land beneath our feet was unsettling, after constantly having the ground move and sway underneath.

My house wasn't that far away from here, but since Rose was so weak I decided that it would be best if we took a carriage instead. I lifted her up into the open-roof carriage, which eliciting a giggle. The ride only took about ten minutes. I heard her gasp when the sight of our town came into view.

Immediately gasped and whispers went throughout the street. "The Master is back." I've told the citizens not to call me that many times, but it's a tradition for the leader to be called that. Some do and some don't, I take what I can get. And then there is the one person on the island that calls me Dimka, or rather the one person that is allowed. Victoria, my 'sister', is the only one that I want calling me Dimka, unless Rose likes that name as well. Victoria isn't my real biological sister but we had the same sire, the person who turned us. We were turned fairly close to each other and we haven't been separated since. The other person on the island is Tasha, she's been trying to get me to be 'hers' for a while now. I've told her I'm not interested but she hasn't listened. Hopefully now that Rose is here she will finally give up.

The town was like any other, just maybe more archaic looking, with stone buildings and such. But we had all the same things. A market, a clothes store, a butcher, we even had a brothel, for all the really lonely vampires. It's quite a ways out of town, and I've never been but I believe that it's mostly run by humans.

My house was at the very edge of town, with no really close neighbors. It was customary to have the 'Master's' house in the center of town but I didn't want to be in the center of things. My house wasn't extremely grand or extravagant and I became slightly worried when the view of it came into view.

"Do you like it?" I asked when we stepped out of the carriage.

"I love it! It's so quaint. It's perfect!" I smiled when she spoke with such happiness.

I walked her inside and gave her a quick tour of the downstairs, and then forced her to sit at the dining table while I went to make her something quick to eat. I didn't want to upset her stomach so I made oatmeal, with a little brown sugar and a piece of toast. She ate most of the food, which was great.

When she was finished I picked her up bridal style and carried her up the stairs. I had two bedrooms but I brought her to mine, hoping she would be ok with that. I loved having her next to me in bed and I didn't want that to stop. Hopefully she would agree. And since she didn't say anything when I got into bed beside her, I would say she is ok with it. Either that or she was too tired to say otherwise. Within a minute I heard as her heartbeat slowed and she fell into a deep sleep.

I stayed awake a little while longer, just kind of fantasizing about how our life is going to be. I kissed her forehead before turning over and falling asleep myself.

Sorry about the kind of short chapter, wasn't really feeling inspired today. Next chapter, Rose is going to get a rude awakening.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Rose P.O.V

"Dimka!" I started awake at the high pitch voice. I'm also sorry to say that I flailed a little bit in terror and because I was already so close to the edge of the bed I fell off. There was a grunt and a high pitch screech. I slowly raised my head over the edge of the bed cautiously, just enough to see what was happening. There was a woman straddling Dimitri holding him tight. I saw as his arms came around her slowly. A slash of jealousy shot through my veins. And I shook that feeling away, I've never felt jealousy before and I'm not about to start now.

I stood up from the floor, but didn't really know what to do besides that. I didn't know who this woman was and what they had between them. Oh, wait! What if this is Victoria, his sister? He's told me all about Victoria, one of the few people that he actually loves. It would make sense that she would be excited about Dimitri's return.

The women pulled away from Dimitri, but only enough to look at his face. And then she smacked her lips to his. My eyes shot open at her tenacity. This is definitely not Victoria! The kiss didn't end; she was holding Dimitri's head to hers. But, finally, he was able to pull away. "Tasha!" he gasped.

"Sorry, Dimka, I just couldn't help myself." She giggled. Dimitri looked over at me with an almost worried look, which drew Tasha's attention to me, as well. "Well, who's this cutie?!" she exclaimed.

"I'm Rose." I answered simply.

"And you slept in here last night?" I nodded. "Dimka, how come you let her sleep in her clothes?" I looked down and noticed that I had never made it into my pajamas last night.

"We had had a very long couple of days and just wanted to go to bed." He stood up off of the bed, Tasha sliding from his legs. He stripped off his shirt right in front of us and I felt my face redden immediately. His chiseled chest flexing as he pulled another on from his bureau. "Ah, I can't believe I left this shirt behind when I left."

"I can't believe you left me behind when you left." Tasha pouted, which made me want to punch her, and wipe the look off her face. I blanched at myself; never had I wanted to hurt someone within seconds of meeting them. Well, except those men in the alley when Dimitri saved me.

"Tasha…" he sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know." She looked annoyed now, which was good for me because now I didn't want to physically hurt her. "So, why is she here?"

"She had to get away from her father." He grabbed the rest of his clothes and disappeared into the bathroom. Why did he only tell her that? Am I not also here because he loves me? Is he ashamed of me… maybe because I'm not a vampire? He said himself that vampires and human aren't quite as equal here. I sighed.

Tasha flopped herself onto the bed, lounging dramatically; raven black hair flayed out around her head. "So, what's your plan now that you're here, Rose?" She sneered, or maybe she just smiled, I'm not really sure.

"I'm not exactly sure, anything that I can to help around, I guess."

She scoffed, "Honey." She drew out the last syllable. "You've got it all wrong." And again she drew out the last note.

Thankfully it was at that point that Dimitri came back out. "I'll go grab your clothes from downstairs." He kissed my cheek and then maneuvered around me to leave the room. Damn.

"Is there something going on between you two?" She asked, a glare distorting her features.

"Well, yeah, I guess."

"You guess?! Well, that seems like you're a delusional little girl with high hopes." What the hell did I ever do to her to warrant this?

"No, there definitely is something going on between us." I said defiantly, raising my chin.

But she just laughed at me, to which I had no response to. I felt a hand at my waist and jumped. But it was only Dimitri, trying to move me so he could deposit the bags on the bed. Immediately I started searching through to find some clean clothes. I chose a light fabric in a pale purple shade. I hurried into the bathroom and got changed, taking my time, hoping that by the time I got back she would be gone.

I got my wish, when I walked out of the bathroom, she was no longer in the bedroom, but neither was Dimitri. I made my way back down the stairs and walked around. I didn't hear anything and didn't exactly remember where everything was. But I did remember where the kitchen was, so I walked towards that. What I saw broke something inside of me…

A/N: I am so sorry for taking so long to update and for the short chapter, but I am working on the next one right now. I'm hoping to get it up soon. But it's hard because school is ending soon and finals and stuff is coming up. Sorry, again.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Rose P.O.V

I gasped. They were kissing, well more like sucking face. Dimitri's back was bent against the counter with Tasha leaning against him, tearing at his shirt. Both of their heads swiveled towards me, but I didn't wait to see their responses. I couldn't believe that he would do that. I hated myself for trusting him.

I ran out of the house, I had no idea where I was going but it didn't matter anyway because the tears were blurring my view. I ran and ran and when I finally stopped I had no clue where I was but there was nothing around but trees. I didn't really know what to do or what to feel. I was kind of just numb.

With nothing to do and nowhere to go, I went and sat on the ground with my back resting up against the rock. I took a deep breath to center myself and closed my eyes. I didn't know what I the next step was. Without Dimitri, I had no idea what I could do now. I couldn't go back there and I had nowhere to go and no knowledge of anything on the idea.

Now that I had time to really think, I was pissed. An overwhelming amount of rage swept throughout my body. My cheeks burned, the tears stopped flowing. I was practically shaking with it. I had to do something to get rid of this rage, and without thinking I punched the ground. Immediately, I regretted doing that. Pain shot through my hand, all the way up to my elbow. The skin on my two largest knuckles cracked and started to bleed. I let out this high-pitch squeak of pain.

I heard a giggle.

My head shot up. "Are you ok?" A girl about my age asked. I stared blankly at her. "Hello, anybody home?" She waved a hand in front of my face.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. I just… you startled me, you appeared out of nowhere." The pain in my hand and arm were practically forgotten.

"Yeah, I do that a lot. Maybe I should make a noise before I come up to people, like a hoot! Or a caw! Or a … well, you get the point." She had made the noises very loud.

"I have a feeling that will only scare people more." I muttered.

She burst out laughing and then fell onto the ground beside me. Lying on her back, she looked up at me, "So, I haven't seen you around before. Are you new?"

"Yeah, I guess, I came with Dimitri." I played with a piece of grass.

"Dimitri!" She leaped back up.

"As in Dimitri, leader of the island, that Dimitri," she exclaimed, staring down at me.

"Yeah, we came back last night."

"I can't believe he didn't tell me!" She started pacing back and forth, but only a second before she stopped in front of me and pointed a delicate finger at my face. "Why didn't he come to see me?"

"We were exhausted after the ship ride. We both wanted to sleep, plus I was really sick the whole way."

"Oh," she plopped back down onto the grass. "So, what's your name?"

"Rose Hathaway."

"Well, I'm Victoria."

"Victoria! As in Dimitri's sister, Victoria?!" that means she's a vampire. How am I going to be able to tell the vampires and humans a part? Will the humans have chains, or be grubby?

"Yes! Has he told you about me?"

"Yes, he's missed you the most."

"He better have." She smirked.

"So, why did he bring you here?"

"If you ask him, it's because he was helping me get away from my father."

"Well, I'm not asking him, am I?"

"I thought it was because he loved me. We've been _seeing_ each other for some time now so…" I said, my voice fading out as I reconsidered. Maybe, he hadn't loved me. I mean, how could he if he was kissing that girl? More tears sprouted at the corners of my tears.

"Oh, honey, he wouldn't have taken you all the way to the island if he didn't love you. I promise, and if I know Dimitri, which I do because I've known him since the second I awoke as a vampire, he is probably your mate. Because when he left he said he would only return with his mate by his side."

I took a deep breath. I didn't really know how to respond to that other than confusion. "Then why was he kissing another girl?" I muttered as a tear escaped and slid down my cheek. I angrily wiped it away.

"What? Explain, please."

"This morning, a woman named Tasha, woke us up and kissed him. He pulled away quickly but then later when I went downstairs I saw them kissing in the kitchen." Another tear slipped down.

"That bitch!" I started, her loudness startling me. "Rose, you need to listen to me. Dimitri does not like Tasha. He finds her really annoying, and has no intention of being with her in any way, but is too nice of a guy to say so. As for why he didn't say something the first time, I'm not really sure. But my guess would be to protect you. There is no telling what Tasha would do if she found out she has lost any chance with Dimitri."

"So what should I do?"

"You need to stand up to her. If you don't she'll just keep going after Dimitri, and you don't want that, do you?" I shook my head furiously. "Well, then let's go. I'll walk you back and wait outside until it's over. You need to do this for yourself. And you shouldn't be afraid, because Dimitri won't let anything happen to you. And beyond that, I wouldn't let that bitch hurt you, I like you too much!" she giggled, and launched herself to her feet, offering me a hand to get off the ground.

We walked through the woods, eventually coming unto this gravel path. I'm not really sure what Victoria ranted about the whole time, but I think it had something to do with a donkey and pitcher of water. Before I knew it the house came into view, I gulped.

"I'll wait out here, Rose. You go kick ass," she pushed forward. I stumbled but didn't fall and continued walking towards the house. I walked in without knocking; figuring that having her open the door would be awkward.

I heard her voice drift out into the hallway. "Dimitri, are you even sure she's worth it because I'm not. She has no backbone; she's very plain looking too." That brought back all the anger I had been feeling from before. I stormed into the living room.

"Tasha, would you just shut it!" Dimitri sprung up from the couch but Tasha sat calmly, a small smirk on her face. "I don't know what I ever did to you for you to be such a bitch to me but you need to cut the shit!"

"You're here, thinking you can just come in and take the man that's rightfully mine."

"Is he, though? Because I've never heard a single mention of you before, seems to me if he cared about you he would have told me about you."

"Maybe he didn't want to scare you off by telling you about his sexy girlfriend at home."

"You're delusional. He doesn't like you, but he's too much of a gentleman to say so. So, how about you just take a hike," she finally stood and took a step towards me.

"Who are you to come here and tell me to leave!?" She practically shrieked.

"I'm Dimitri's mate, bitch!" I purposely didn't look at Dimitri when I said this, for obvious reasons. But before this he had been standing off to the side with a perplexed look on his face.

"How dare you!" She advanced towards me and stood directly in my face, a glare upon her face. "You bitch, Dimitri is my mate. He is just too shy to admit it, he's just nervous."

"Then how do you explain him leaving the island." I pointed out the flaw in her delusional little world.

"You little slut!" she blurted out because she had nothing else to say, no way to prove me wrong.

And because I have had enough with being called a slut, I slapped her, straight across the face. A loud snapping noise permeated the air. And then there was silence, dead silence.

Her scream of rage broke the silence. She raised her hand and I flinched, expecting the pain. But it never came. Dimitri had finally stepped in. He had her wrist encompassed in his hand. "Tasha, enough of this," he spoke in a quiet voice, quite unlike our shrieking voices.

"Tell me you love me," she whispered.

"No, because it would be a lie," he put her hand back down to her side. "And now you are going to leave. I'm done with you insulting my mate and with your crazy notion that I'm secretly in love with you. You've crossed a line. Now get out." And she left, her sobbing noises being heard throughout the house.

Wait… did he just say mate?! So, it's true then. We're… mates. Wow, that's …awesome. I wanted to smile but wasn't sure that would be entirely appropriate after what just happened.

"Are you ok?" he asked, quickly grabbing my arms and pulling me to his warm body.

I nodded into his chest, the adrenaline seeping out of my body, leaving me feeling like jelly. But I was slightly confused. "Why didn't you let her slap me, why did you interfere? I kind of deserved it…"

"You did not deserve it, for one. And for two, I would never, ever let anyone hit you. And even more so: when you hit her, you did no damage, nothing what-so-ever but piss her off. If she were to hit you, if she did it hard enough, she might have broken your neck."

"Oh." We just stayed like we were after that, standing in the middle of the living room in each other's arms. Until we heard the door burst open and the sound of stomping feet. I half expected to see Tasha come around the corner but it was Victoria. I was glad to see her and I couldn't wait to tell her about what happened. But Dimitri didn't seem as happy as I was to see her. She was his sister, right? Shouldn't he be ecstatic?

"Oh shit," he released me from our hug and moved me from in front of him to behind him. Victoria isn't dangerous, right?

"Oh shit, is right, you asshole!" she screamed. "You leave, without notice, and the whole time you're gone, not once did you send a letter to let me know you were ok!"

"I left a letter when I departed to explain."

"Yeah, but that doesn't make up for the few months you were gone. You could've died. I hate ruling this place in your absence, I'm not serious enough, and if you died what would I do then."

"You would find the appropriate replacement."

"That's not the point Dimitri." She sighed exasperated. "And would you please move your girlfriend out from behind you. We've already met and I quite like her."

I happily stepped out from behind him, while Dimitri said, "You've already met?"

"Yes, I found her crying and punching inanimate objects in the woods."

"Punching… are you ok?" It was then that he noticed the dry blood on my hand.

"I'm fine." I hurried to say but that didn't stop him from fussing.

"Sit on the couch, while I go see if I have any bandages lying around." He left the room after forcing me to sit. Victoria plopped down next to me.

"So, how'd it go?"

"I slapped her." I muttered, still shocked at myself.

"Awesome, I knew you had spunk in you. I can already tell we're going to be great friends." She giggled. And then jumped off the couch, after we heard a loud crashing noise from what sounded like the kitchen. "I'm going to go help Dimitri, before he has an aneurism from freaking out too much." I nodded as she left. I sat on the couch and waited, hearing the occasional bang or cuss word. I looked down at my hand. It wasn't that bad, just small cuts. There wasn't even that much blood.

I was about to get up to tell Dimitri that the bandages weren't needed when I felt the couch indent as weight was lowered next to me. I looked up to see a man, a man I didn't know, an attractive man.

"Hi, gorgeous, how's it going?"

A/N: Hope you liked the new chapter, hope it makes up for the last one. Rose has some back bone on her, doesn't she? Leave a comment guessing who this new guy is.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Rose P.O.V.

"Um, ok, I guess." I muttered.

"Oh, how rude of me! I'm Adrian Ivashkov, the guy who Dimitri left _half_ in charge while he was away. But I'll tell you a secret; it was really my girlfriend who made all the big decisions. Dimitri trusts me, but I don't trust me, if you know what I mean." He slung his arm over the back of the couch, and leaned closer to me. "So, who are you? And what are you doing here, in Dimitri's house? And why did Tasha just run out of here crying?" He glared at me slightly.

"I'm Rose, and I'm here because I'm Dimitri's mate." I said, quietly. All of the 'spunk' I just had fighting with Tasha was gone, I was back to being the shy, uncertain girl. I definitely needed to talk to Dimitri about this mate stuff though.

"And that would explain why crazy pants left here bawling." I nodded, and Dimitri strode into the room.

"I found the bandage." He only glanced at Adrian before squatting down in front of me. "Don't worry, Rose, he's harmless."

"Hey! I can be very dangerous," Adrian exclaimed.

"Sure, and what would your mate do if she saw you hurt anything?"

Adrian mumbled incoherently under his breath. Dimitri grabbed my hand and tied the bandage around my knuckles.

"I'm really ok, Dimitri, I didn't even notice that I was hurt."

"And I believe you, but I don't want to leave it open and exposed, lest it get infected. Humans are so fragile." He rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand, staring intently at it. "Now that I've finally found you, I'm going to do everything in my power to ensure your safety and wellbeing." He looked so sad while saying this; I wanted to do whatever I could to erase that look of pain.

I ignored Adrian's presence, and leaned forward. I tipped Dimitri's head up with a finger to his chin and secured my lips to his. He must have been surprised for a second because he didn't respond. But then his lips moved, kissing me back. I slid my hands up to grasp the sides of his face, to prevent him from leaving. That strange tingling sensation grew in my lower abdomen, and my face felt warm, my heart beating faster than normal. I felt his tongue and my heart leapt, but then I remembered Adrian. I pulled back quickly with a gasp, shocked that I let myself go like that. Dimitri looked dazed and I was slightly proud that I could cause that type of reaction. I giggled when he licked his lips and he finally snapped out of it and smiled: a big, goofy smile.

"Well, thanks for that." Adrian blurted. Dimitri sighed, and stood up.

"I've never wanted someone to be out of my presence more than right now."

"I know what you mean, my friend. When I first met my mate, all those years ago, oh my god, I'm pretty old. Anyway, when she finally let me date her, she wanted to go snail pace, which is all fine but damn I didn't want to ever let her go."

"Speaking of your mate, where is she?"

"You didn't see her? She went to the kitchen to talk with Victoria. But let me tell you, she really liked running and keeping track of everything on the island. She's very good at it."

"Good, I figured as much. I was hoping that she would continue to run the council and everything that I would do, and that's she's been doing in my absence, even though I am back. I would like to focus on my mate." He reached a hand towards my face and caressed my cheek. I might have leant into his touch, just a little bit.

"I'm sure that she-" he was interrupted.

"_She_ would love that." A pale, blonde woman strode into the room, followed by Victoria holding a plate, with a sandwich on top. She handed it to me before plopping beside me. The blonde woman extended a hand towards me. She had a firm handshake. "Hello, I'm Sydney, the mate of this buffoon." I laughed. This was probably the most unlikely looking couple ever. Sydney was so well kept, not a hair out of place, while Adrian was lounging all ruffled looking. He was goofy and unfocused, and from what I heard she's very organized and hard working. Opposites attract, though, right?

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Rose."

"I know, Victoria told me, along with half the island. It won't be long before everyone knows your name." I gulped. Everyone's going to know who I am? I probably should have already realized this before, now that I think about it. Dimitri's the leader; of course, they're going to want to know who he's with.

"Ok, everyone get out of my house. I care about you all and hope this isn't too rude, but I want time with Rose, alone." Adrian and Sydney immediately started to leave, probably because they knew the struggle of having a mate and alone time.

"Even me?" Victoria questioned.

"Yes, even you."

"But I just got here and I, I've missed you so much."

"I love you too Victoria but-"

"Dimitri, I still need a tour of the island. I didn't really see anything earlier when I ran, maybe we could do that together and then come back later, just me and you, to talk."

"Please, please, please, Dimitri. I don't want to go yet."

"Ok, fine. But you have to eat first, Rose." I ate as quickly as I could. From what I gather the island was beautiful.

.-.-.

I was right the island was beautiful. From all the cute cottage looking houses to the friendly people. The humans weren't kept in chains and covered in grime, which is what I had feared but rather they were dressed just like the humans on the main land. There were cliffs on one side of the island that looked over the ocean. Dimitri said it was an amazing place to go to see the sunrise. On the other side of the island (we took a carriage part of the way) was the shore, where everyone one went to swim. Even then, there had been vampires and their humans, a few children and two dogs. Just around the bend was the small dock that we had come in on, now empty, the boat left for another port. By the time that I had seen everything, it was beginning to get dark out and I was exhausted. I fell asleep on Dimitri's arm on our way back to his house, but not before thinking how amazing it was going to be living here, especially when Lissa came.

A/N: oh, how wrong she is, about living there I mean. It's not going to be this amazing for long. But that's just between you and me, she won't realize until later. Hope you liked the update, leave a review to let me know what you think.

P.S. sorry about the somewhat uneventful chapter…


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Rose P.O.V

I awoke with a sigh. I was so comfy and warm, and just happy in general. My head was resting on Dimitri's arm, my nose to his chest. Thankfully he was wearing a shirt, because I fear that I would reach out and lick his skin, just to see how he tasted. I was wearing another one of his shirts; they were so soft and smelled like him. "Rose," Dimitri groaned. I glanced up at him, startled, to see his gorgeous brown eyes staring back at me.

"What?" I asked, genuinely confused. Dimitri sounded exasperated. What could I have done, I just woke up?

"It is so hard not to just ravish you." My eyes popped wide. "You are irresistible, and I can only barely control myself." His eyes stared into mine. I never realized that I affected Dimitri that much. "It's worse now, now that you know that we're mates. Now you know that we are meant for each other and all I want to do is just take you here and now." I gasped lightly. "But I never would, not without your permission." He said to reassure me. "I just wanted to tell you what I was truly feeling, so you know why I might pull away sometimes."

"Pull away?"

"When we're kissing or touching, I might need to pull away so I don't do anything untoward you. I don't want to frighten you; I just want to realize that because of my vampire genes I want you so bad it pains me. And I'm not telling you this to pressure you into anything, either." He rushed to say.

"I trust you Dimitri, and you telling me this only allows me to trust you more. I know you won't do anything bad. And I'll understand it if you need to pull away. I'll probably pull away first. I… I want to go slow. I've never even kissed anyone before you an, though I love you, we haven't known each other all that long. I'm not ready, but you'll be the first to know when I am."

"I hope I'd be the first," He chuckled. When he sobered he brushed a strand of my hair out of my face and behind my ear with the tip of his fingers, barely touching my skin, causing a shiver to travel down my spine. "You are so beautiful." He practically whispered.

"And you are so handsome." I giggled.

"Oh, yeah, what's your favorite part about me?"

"You're very sweet to me." I said after a moment of thought, and then added to it. "And you are very intelligent. Oh, and I like that you are protective."

He laughed. "Thanks Roza, but that's not quite what I meant. I love what you said, but what's your favorite thing to look at about me; what feature?"

"Oh," I blushed slightly. "Well, I really like your eyes, and your body isn't anything to be ashamed about." I placed a hand upon said body, my palm flat on his abdomen.

"Well, I really like how independent and strong you are, your spirit is unbreakable. What I like most about your physical appearance would have to be your hair. It's so silky and looks like waves cascading down your back. And I love how it looks when it blows in the wind or when it fans around you while you're sleeping." He curled a lock of my hair around a finger, inspecting it up close. He brought it closer and sniffed it. "I also love your smell; it's intoxicating." He closed his eyes, and I decided to take advantage of that. I leaned forward and kissed his lips. He pulled back and I expected him to pull away completely and say something about his control, considering what we just talked about. But instead he reattached his full lips back to mine. My body went noodle-y. He rolled us over so he was slightly on top of me. I dragged my hands up his sides slowly as shudders went up and down my body from his hands. They were at my waist; he was pushing in with his fingers. He dragged his thumbs in circle, causing goosebumps to appear along my back.

One hand lifted my hips up and the other slid up the hem of my/his shirt. He pressed down with his hips at the same time and drew a gasp from my mouth. He hit _that _spot. I bent one of my legs at the knee. The hand that pulled the shirt up continued up to my ribs, his thumb just under my breast. I broke our kiss to get my breath and he dragged his lips across my cheek and down to my throat, sucking slightly. I locked my fingers into his hair and moan as quietly as I could when he pressed with his hips again._ So much for going slow, right? _

He nibbled on my ear lobe and when he pressed once more with his hips I couldn't help but push upwards into his, he groaned into my ear. I wiggled and another groan was pulled from his lips. I giggled and pecked his cheek. The hand under my breast slid down my side, over the curve of my hip and down to my thigh. Shudders shot down my spine, goosebumps rising. He lifted and hooked my leg over his hip. I arched my back, pushing our chests together. He sucked on my throat and pressed with his lower half again. This time it hit… perfectly. I moaned louder than I ever had before, and had a full body shiver.

And then he was gone.

He disappeared from on top of me and was at the other side of the room, panting. I was breathing raggedly. "Dimitri?" I called out.

"I'm okay, just give me a moment." I focused on trying to get my body under control. I felt hot, my cheeks flushed. I slowed my breathing and pulled down my shirt. My legs were still exposed, mostly, probably should get dressed to help Dimitri.

"I'm going to go get dressed." I quickly grabbed a dress and went into the bathroom. Probably wouldn't help him if I was showing a lot skin. Halfway through getting dressed I heard a knock at the door. "I'm going to go make breakfast."

"Ok." I finished dressing and went downstairs to the smell of bacon. Yum! I might have walked a little faster to get to the bacon. I practically skipped into the kitchen… to see Dimitri in an apron, a _pink_ apron. I stared, open-mouthed.

"Before you start with the assumptions, it was a gift from Victoria." He explained without even turning around.

"Oh, ok, because that was definitely better than what I was thinking." I continued skipping until I stood next to him. "Just to warn you, my love for bacon is unbreakable. I might just leave you for some crispy bacon one day." I teased.

"Oh, would you?" He turned with a large spoon in his right hand. It had some remnant pancake batter that had stuck to the spoon. "Would you really?" he waved the spoon threateningly, and took a step forward.

"Dimitri, no, no," I backed up but for every step I would take backwards Dimitri would mirror, forwards. "Dimitri!" He lunged at me but I dodged to the side. I had no doubt in my mind that if Dimitri really wanted to catch me he could, but we were just playing. I ran around the island counter thing, giggling loudly.

"All you have to do is say that you love me more than bacon!" He called out.

"Never!" I made a mad dash for the living room. I made it but was thrown down onto the couch. I tried to scramble off, but Dimitri straddled my waist, and held both of my hands above my head with one of his. "I'll never say it, never!" I screamed, barely containing the laughter. Dimitri had a huge grin on his face while he lowered the spoon.

"Say it!"

"Never, bacon is my true love! You can't keep us apart." I exclaimed, unable to keep the smile off my face.

He lowered the spoon some more, right above my cheek. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Say that you love me more."

"Never," I growled.

He smeared the batter onto one cheek. It was wet, sticky, and cold. "You chose the hard way. Don't make me do it twice! Say it!"

"There's nothing you can do to diminish my love of bacon!"

"You asked for it!" He smeared the other cheek, creating a huge circle to cover most of my cheek. It hid my blush at least.

"Don't make me do it a third time!"

"Fine! No more. I admit defeat. Iloveyoumorethanbacon."

"What was that? I didn't quite catch that."

"I LOVE YOU MORE THAN BACON!" I screamed, giggling like a maniac. Dimitri let my hands go but I left them where they were. It was now that I realized just exactly how …precarious our position was.

"You better." He leaned down slightly and licked a stripe of the batter off of my face. My eyes closed as he continued to wash my face with his tongue. Maybe at another time I would have been disgusted but it didn't feel gross. It felt … I'm not exactly sure why I liked it. But his tongue was soft and his breath tickled my cheeks.

I also don't know why I did what I did. I stuck my tongue out and licked his face, despite the fact that his was void of any batter. He froze and then I did too, worried that I had done something wrong. I looked up at him and he looked…confused and shocked? I was about to ask what was wrong but then I smelled it.

Something was burning.

"Dimitri, something is burning!" And with that Dimitri was gone from the room. When I arrived in the kitchen, he was scraping the charred remains of what used to be a pancake into the trash. Thankfully the bacon was unharmed.

"Thankfully, we didn't start a fire, but it was close." He looked up at me with a huge grin before turning back to the stove and starting a new pancake, and taking the bacon off the heat and onto a plate. "Why don't you go set the table? This will only take a couple of minutes." So I went small dining room and set two places, across from each other.

In a few minutes he came in with two plates of pancakes, syrup and bacon. "I'm going to get fat if you keep doing this." I moaned when I took the first bite.

"What do you mean?"

"You keep cooking me these big, delicious meals. I eat myself full because they taste so good. This syrup is heavenly."

"We have our own maple trees, so we make our syrup here. And even I like it, and I'm not the biggest sweet tooth." The bacon was perfect, too. Crispy, just the way I like it.

"So, can we talk seriously for a minute?"

"Of course, Rose."

"So, what exactly is going to entail with me being your mate? Yesterday when you said you wanting to talk with me alone I assume it was about this."

"It was. I wanted to make sure you were ok with knowing, but by the way you're acting this morning I'm not worried anymore."

"I had thought about it before, when you first mentioned mates. I almost asked but I wasn't sure if I wanted to know. And now that I do know, it's more reassuring. I mean, of course I loved you before, but now I know that we were born for each other, and that one of us won't leave the other. That was what I was most afraid of. That you would leave after I had fallen completely head over heels for you."

"I'll never leave you Rose, you _have_ to know that."

"I do, and I'll never leave you. Well, except for crispy bacon."

"Not this again, do I have to go get the batter!?" he exclaimed, making me laugh.

"No, no. I love you!"

"I love you, too, Roza." The intensity of his gaze made me look down at my mostly eaten pancake.

The silence was broken a moment later with a loud whoop. "Hey guys!" Victoria bounced into the room, holding a small present in one hand. "I can't believe you had pancakes without me! So rude, Dimitri, you know I love your pancakes." She plopped the wrapped gift in front of me. "Before you say thanks, it's not from me. It was on your doorstep, addressed to you."

Who could this be from? I've only met a few people, and only just yesterday. I pulled at the blue ribbon and there were three things I was able to comprehend in that moment.

I heard "No!"

There was a very loud, deafening boom.

And then there was pain.

I was slammed to the ground, Dimitri on top of me. My back and head hit first causing shooting pains. When everything was quiet, Dimitri eased himself off of me. The table and spot where I was sitting was on fire. The present had been a bomb.

I could see Dimitri's lips moving but heard him as if hearing him through a tunnel. I had to strain to hear what he was saying. "Go get … help…Guardians. I'm taking … Rose…. Go!" I missed a lot of what he said.

Dimitri picked me up gingerly and brought me to the living room, sitting me down on the couch. He kneeled in front of me. "Are you ok?" I could hear a little better. "Are you hurt?"

"I… I think I'm ok. My hearing is a little strange."

"That's ok; it'll be back to normal in a moment. Victoria went to go get the Guardians. They are the people who keep the peace, like police for the vampires. They'll investigate everything and everyone. I can't believe someone would do this. Mates, as I said before, are sacred. And no one really messes with anyone with a mate lest they accidently kill them. Because by killing one half of the pairing you kill the other half. You can't have one without the other. But this wasn't an accident. Someone wanted to kill you! I can't believe this. This is unacceptable. I'm going to find whoever did this and kill them for threatening your life."

"Dimitri, calm down. I'm not hurt." He was absolutely livid; I could see it on his face. He didn't look in control.

"But you could have been!" He yelled and I flinched. Not because I was scared but because my hearing had fully returned and the loud noise started me. But it seemed to pull Dmitri out of his anger.

"I'm sorry Rose; I don't mean to scare you."

"Dimitri!" I heard Victoria call out.

"We're in the living room!" He called back. He stood as three men walked in with Victoria.

"The others are checking out the dining room," she informed us.

One of the Guardians came to sit in front of me and started checking my vitals and to see if I had any injuries. Dimitri explained what happened. And now the only thing to do to was wait. The guardians continued to investigate the house. Dimitri and I sat in silence besides each other. Victoria walked around and paced and made many calls. But I heard nothing. Why would someone try to kill me? I did piss of Tasha yesterday but did that warrant my death? I laid my head on Dimitri's shoulder and just watched everyone do their things.

"Rose?" I looked up at him. "I'm not letting you out of my sight."

A/N: I am so sorry that it took me forever to update. I had tons of finals and projects and stuff like that and only just got out of school on Tuesday. But I hope this chapter makes up for it.


End file.
